{"id":1423683,"date":"2025-03-26T16:39:58","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T16:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/?p=1423683"},"modified":"2025-03-26T16:39:58","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T16:39:58","slug":"massresistance-anti-gay-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/uncloseted\/massresistance-anti-gay-marriage\/","title":{"rendered":"The push to overturn equal marriage, courtesy of MassResistance"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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In January, Idaho introduced a resolution that is now one of at least 9 measures trying to chip away at same-sex marriage across the US. A notoriously anti-LGBTQIA+ group says they\u2019re behind the push.<\/p>\n

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WORDS HOPE PISONI, IAN MAX STEVENSON AND SPENCER MACNAUGHTON<\/strong>\r\nADDITIONAL REPORTING SAM DONNDELINGER<\/strong><\/pre>\n
THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON\u00a0UNCLOSETED MEDIA<\/a>\u00a0A NEW INVESTIGATIVE LGBTQIA+ FOCUSSED NEWS PUBLICATION.<\/strong><\/p>\n
THIS STORY WAS PRODUCED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE IDAHO STATESMAN<\/a>, A BOISE, IDAHO NEWSPAPER THAT HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE 1864.<\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/p>
Idaho lawmakers were met in late January by a House committee hearing room full of constituents stating their beliefs about the institution of marriage \u2013 and who it should extend to. After testimonies from nearly two dozen people, the last to speak joined the hearing remotely and thanked Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, for bringing forward a resolution to challenge the legality of same-sex marriages and ask the US Supreme Court to overturn the decade-old landmark ruling that granted it.<\/a><\/p>\n
Arthur Schaper<\/a>, field director<\/a> for a group called MassResistance, told the committee that activists at his international organisation had brought forward similar resolutions in North Dakota<\/a>, Montana<\/a>, Michigan<\/a> and Wyoming<\/a> and that state lawmakers had been \u201ctaking it up.\u201d As of this week, at least nine<\/a> states have proposed measures to roll back same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n
Schaper defended the resolution with discredited claims about homosexuality, which the country\u2019s major medical organisations agree is a normal part of human sexuality<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are born Black, Hispanic, or otherwise,\u201d Schaper said. \u201cThey are not born homosexual.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schaper declined Uncloseted Media<\/em>\u2019s request for an interview and did not respond to a list of questions sent via email.<\/p>\n
A Three-Decade History of Fighting Against LGBTQIA+ Rights<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Idaho resolution was drafted by MassResistance, a far-right Christian organisation that has been fighting against LGBTQIA+ rights since it formed 30 years ago. The group is one of the most openly extreme anti-LGBTQIA+ groups among the far right, advertising<\/a> itself as \u201cengag[ing] in issues and events that most other conservative groups are afraid to touch\u201d and boasting about writing resolutions like the one passed in the Idaho House.<\/p>\n
\u201cMassResistance has drafted text for state legislature resolutions that call on the US Supreme Court to reverse its infamous and illegitimate Obergefell ruling,\u201d the group shared on its website<\/a> in January, referencing Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark decision by the Supreme Court to legalise same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n
It also has criticised<\/a> Southern Poverty Law Center-designated anti-LGBTQIA+ hate groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and Family Research Council for their \u201cpolite opposition to the latest left-wing lunacy<\/a>\u201d and stated that \u201crather than being truthful and confrontational, too many pro-family groups want to be seen as \u2018reasonable\u2019 and \u2018not extreme.\u2019\u201d In addition to its anti-LGBTQIA+ activism on home turf, MassResistance works to roll back queer rights globally, with chapters in Africa, South America, the Caribbean and beyond.<\/p>\n
Justin R. Ellis, a criminologist at the University of Newcastle in Australia who has written<\/a> about anti-LGBTQIA+ movements and groups<\/a>, including MassResistance, said that the successes of groups like ADF in rolling back some LGBTQIA+ rights is exactly what allows MassResistance to take the spotlight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThem coming out with their framing and their litigation and their hostility toward queer issues emboldens other groups like MassResistance to go, \u2018Hang on, we\u2019re gonna go bolder,\u2019\u201d Ellis said in a video interview.<\/p>\n
MassResistance\u2019s effort to overturn same-sex marriage is the latest in a long list of campaigns in which the group has worked to pass anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation, from book bans to gender-marker restrictions, in state and local governments across the country and even abroad.<\/p>\n
How MassResistance Grew Beyond its Massachusetts Roots<\/strong><\/h3>\n
MassResistance was founded<\/a> in 1995 in Massachusetts under the name \u201cParents\u2019 Rights Coalition\u201d by local activist Brian Camenker. After getting his start in activism as an outspoken<\/a> opponent of LGBTQIA+ inclusive sex education in schools, Camenker quickly led the group\u2019s first major campaign: drafting and lobbying<\/a> for state legislation that required schools to notify parents and allow them to opt out of sex education for their children. The group emphasised that doing so would allow parents to ensure their children don\u2019t learn about \u201chomosexuality\u201d or so-called \u201ctransgenderism.\u201d The campaign was successful, and the bill passed<\/a> into state law in 1996.<\/p>\n
After the Massachusetts Supreme Court made the state the first in the US to legalise same-sex marriage in 2004, the group shifted its focus to fighting<\/a> that decision. The group temporarily changed its name to the Article 8 Alliance, referencing part of the Massachusetts Constitution that outlines the impeachment of judges. Under this new identity, the group filed state legislation to impeach all of the justices who supported Massachusetts\u2019 pro-same-sex-marriage ruling and to outlaw the unions under state law. None of the bills the group wrote were successful.<\/p>\n
Despite this, after rebranding back to MassResistance in 2006, the group continued to write legislation opposed to LGBTQIA+ inclusion until<\/a> at least 2017<\/a>. In one bill from 2011, the group sought to repeal an anti-bullying law<\/a> because of its protections for LGBTQIA+ students.<\/p>\n
During this period, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated MassResistance a hate group<\/a>, in part because it labeled<\/a> Boston Pride a \u201cdepraved\u201d display that featured \u201ca great deal of obviously disturbed, dysfunctional, and extremely self-centered people.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the mid-2010s, MassResistance expanded its focus to the national stage. Its first out-of-state chapter opened in 2014 in Virginia. In 2016, Schaper launched a chapter in California<\/a>. And in 2020, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who MassResistance has said<\/a> worked closely with members of its Georgia chapter, was elected to the US House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
By 2022, the free speech advocacy group PEN America identified<\/a> at least 16 MassResistance chapters in the US, with several more international chapters. PEN America also identified MassResistance as one of the most active groups in the national push to ban books with LGBTQIA+ content from schools and libraries.<\/p>\n
The book ban efforts followed MassResistance publishing in 2017 its own book<\/a>, The Health Hazards of Homosexuality<\/em>, which claimed to compile scientific evidence that supported a ban on homosexuality. The 600-page book touts endorsements from various anti-LGBTQIA+ activists, including Michelle Cretella, former executive director of the American College of Pediatricians, a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated<\/a> hate group known for publishing<\/a> and spreading<\/a> specious science about LGBTQIA+ people.<\/p>\n
The book rails against \u201cthe coarsening of our culture that has accompanied the normalisation of homosexuality\u201d and makes numerous false or misleading scientific claims. For example, it cites statistics indicating higher rates of mental or physical illness among LGBTQIA+ people as evidence of innate risks despite many experts agreeing<\/a> that discrimination and lack of resources are more accurate explanatory factors.<\/p>\n
Where Does the Funding Come From?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
According to IRS filings, MassResistance has received thousands of dollars from several donor-advised funds. They include the National Christian Foundation<\/a> and Arthur G. Jaros Sr. and Dawn L. Jaros Charitable Trust<\/a> \u2013 both of which financially support other far-right groups, including the ADF and the Heritage Foundation, the group behind Project 2025.<\/p>\n
Uncloseted Media and the Idaho Statesman also identified IRS forms<\/a> for the Parents Education Foundation<\/a>, a group run by Camenker and listed as \u201crelated\u201d to MassResistance. Despite little to no public presence, on its most recent IRS filing from 2023, the organisation reported revenue of $211,123, much of which was sourced via donations from large<\/a> conservative donors<\/a> and other mainstream<\/a> donor-advised funds<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Parents Education Foundation lists Dr. Paul Church as a director<\/a>. Church is a urologist who was fired from a Boston hospital in 2015 for likening a Pride event to a chosen social agenda, Fox News<\/em> reported<\/a>. MassResistance supported<\/a> Church in his fight against the hospital, and, in 2017, he provided an expert endorsement<\/a> in The Health Hazards of Homosexuality<\/em>.<\/p>\n
MassResistance Makes Inroads Into Idaho<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The current Idaho resolution is not the first instance where MassResistance has worked with the state\u2019s legislators. In a collection of emails<\/a> leaked by former conservative activist Elisa Rae Shupe<\/a>, who died by suicide<\/a> earlier this year, Uncloseted Media found correspondence from 2020 between Schaper and former Idaho state Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, who testified in favour of the anti-Obergefell resolution. Young discussed developing an anti-trans bill<\/a> that would forbid changing gender markers on state birth certificates. The bill became law<\/a> in Idaho in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still going after the governor, though, to make sure that he signs or at least allow[s] the bills to become law,\u201d Schaper told Young in one email.<\/p>\n
“MassResistance does send emails. They were looking for people to testify, but I did not make those arrangements with them deliberately. I let them know I would contact the bill’s sponsor,” Young told Uncloseted Media<\/em> in reference to the 2025 anti-Obergefell resolution, which she says she supports. \u201cIt’s a correct principle to allow those decisions to be made by the states and not by a single unelected panel of judges.”<\/p>\n
When asked if she takes issue with any of MassResistance’s stances on gay issues, Young said, “It’s probably not an issue that I have a relevant opinion on.”<\/p>\n
Idaho has been home to some of MassResistance\u2019s government targets. In 2023, activists from its state chapter and other anti-LGBTQA+ groups successfully campaigned to elect<\/a> a majority of far-right candidates onto Kootenai County\u2019s Community Library Network board. The board has since enacted<\/a> multiple policies restricting minors\u2019 access to LGBTQIA+ content and libraries in general.<\/p>\n
At the 2023 Rexburg Pride Event in East Idaho, counter-protestors from Idaho MassResistance, led at the time by former Rep. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, had physical confrontations<\/a> with attendees. The spectacle caused police to heighten security and some organisations to pull out of the event the following year. MassResistance made a less conspicuous appearance<\/a> in 2024. Nate did not respond to Uncloseted Media<\/em>\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n
Ellis, the professor who writes about anti-LGBTQIA+ movements including MassResistance, said that coordinating these kinds of local attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community and other marginalised groups has become much easier with social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things that groups such as MassResistance can do is, through their online networks, coordinate protests against Drag Queen Story Time childhood literacy events, for example, and now same-sex marriage, and what they do is get people in other jurisdictions to go to those locations and protest in person,\u201d he said. \u201cThrough social media, you can coordinate ideologically aligned individuals quickly and cheaply.\u201d<\/p>\n
MassResistance has taken credit on its website for the Idaho resolution carried by Rep. Scott. The group noted that an Idaho House member \u201coffered to spearhead\u201d the resolution this year but did not name the lawmaker.<\/p>\n
In response to a public records request, Scott reported she had no communications with MassResistance, and she declined to respond to a question from a Statesman<\/em> reporter about whether she worked with the group.<\/p>\n
In an interview on The Ranch Podcast<\/em><\/a> in early February, Scott said she was first approached about opposing same-sex marriage in the Legislature eight years ago. She said she was looking through a list of ideas for legislation over the summer and decided to \u201cpush [same-sex marriage] up to the top this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scott\u2019s resolution states that the Obergefell decision is an \u201coverreach\u201d from the US Supreme Court, which should leave marriage laws to the states. However, it also asks the Supreme Court to \u201crestore the natural definition of marriage, a union of one man and one woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the podcast, she underscored her perspective on gay marriage. \u201cDon\u2019t force me to say that that\u2019s a marriage, because in my eyes that\u2019s an abomination to God,\u201d she said, noting that she would support creating a legal relationship between LGBTQIA+ couples that would provide them with the legal rights of marriage.<\/p>\n
MassResistance\u2019s International Footprint<\/strong><\/h3>\n
MassResistance also advocates against LGBTQIA+ rights around the world. On its website, the group claims to have worked with activists from at least 24 countries and territories, including Mexico, Brazil, Croatia, Nigeria, Taiwan and Australia. Last year, the group started a new chapter in Kenya<\/a>, where it reported on its website that it was holding trainings<\/a> for youth to \u201cresist the LGBT agenda\u201d in schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n
In many of these countries, the group circulates a video<\/a> by Camenker titled \u201cWhat \u2018gay marriage\u2019 did to Massachusetts.\u201d The video has been converted into booklets, which have been translated and circulated in Mexico<\/a>, Costa Rica<\/a>, Sri Lanka<\/a>, Taiwan<\/a> and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce same-sex marriage gets a foothold, society becomes more oppressive, hammering citizens with the force of law. The judicial system becomes more radical and arrogant, and politicians become more cowardly. And once that concept is institutionalised, other boundaries on sexual behaviours continue to fall,\u201d Camenker says in the video. \u201cThe push for gay marriage is really about putting the legal stamp of approval on homosexuality and forcing its acceptance on otherwise unwilling citizens and on our social, commercial, and political institutions. To those of you where this is being threatened, do not wait \u2013 it is absolutely necessary for you to call, write, and even visit your elected officials. They must feel your outrage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Camenker did not respond to Uncloseted Media<\/em>\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n
Some of MassResistence\u2019s more noteworthy interventions abroad include helping keep anti-sodomy laws on the books in Sri Lanka and supporting<\/a> propaganda campaigns against the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Taiwan. In the latter case, the group said<\/a> that Schaper spoke directly with a representative of Taiwan\u2019s Democratic Progressive Party and was invited to a party event in the US over the course of the campaign.<\/p>\n
In Ghana, meanwhile, MassResistance has collaborated<\/a> with Freedom International<\/a>, an organisation that congratulated Uganda for its anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation<\/a> that threatens life in prison for consensual same-sex relations, to start anti-LGBTQIA+ youth clubs in secondary schools.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Africa] is the land of opportunity when it comes to restricting LGBTQ rights,\u201d Wendy Via, president and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told Uncloseted Media<\/em>. \u201cThere are a lot of huge worldwide groups with lots of money who are working on the same thing, and they also come at it from a Christian point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n
MassResistance\u2019s Plans Span Far Beyond Idaho<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The future of Scott\u2019s resolution in Idaho is uncertain. It passed the Idaho House in a 46-24 vote in late January. Before a vote on the Senate floor, the legislation must advance out of a Senate committee. But the committee\u2019s chairman, Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, told the Statesman he is not sure whether he will allow a hearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public has weighed in, and it\u2019s been pretty one-sided in terms of, \u2018Why are we doing this?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Guthrie said he expects to meet with Scott to discuss her resolution before deciding whether to hold a hearing, but he acknowledged his own concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe effect of it could be pretty harmful to a lot of people, making them feel for whatever reason that they don\u2019t belong. \u2026 I just don\u2019t see the benefit being greater than the hurt,\u201d Guthrie added, noting that it could \u201ctear people\u2019s lives apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Via said MassResistance\u2019s goal is to overturn Obergefell and starting in deep-red pockets of the country is a trial run.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe little, tiny resolution in Idaho, it\u2019s like the butterfly wings,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note: Dr. Paul Church could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n
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Republicans in Idaho have challenged marriage equality. Should we be concerned?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n