Bastard Nation Executive Secretary Anita Field replies to comments from Access 2006’s Cathy Robinshaw posted on Bastardette regarding LD 1805. It also appears in Bastard Blogs. I will also be replying this weekend.
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Dear Cathy,
I am writing in response to your comments on my guest blog that appeared on The Daily Bastardette, “Open Letter To Maine Adoptees.”
Cathy, how many ways must I say that Bastard Nation was NOT with the opposition? We vigorously supported the bill in early February, before the hearing.
I have collected “all” Bastard Nation’s communications about LD 1805 from February 25th until the very end of March. This is not a “selection,” Cathi, this is every single one:
1) Testimony to Joint Judiciary Committee, “7 Reasons to Support 1805”
2) Bastard Nation Action Alert, February 25, 2006, “Support 1805”
3) Fax sent to the Joint Judiciary Committee while they were in work session,“Why You Should Vote For LD, 1805 as written”
4) Fact sheet to our membership, “Important Information Regarding LD 1805”
5) My letter to the Kennebec Journal, “Support 1805”
You state that you: “were disappointed when instead of the bill being voted on in the committee, it went into a work session.” ALL BILLS GO INTO WORK SESSION. It is the way things work here.
Good to know. Why didn’t you correct us at the time?
You also state: Ironically, Senator Faircloth, who was a co-sponsor of the original bill, proposed an amendment that prospectively would allow all adoptees unrestricted access to their original birth certificates when they reached the age of 40.” NO, THIS WAS RETROSPECTIVELY.
I have before me a copy of an Internet post entitled “Breakdown of Maine Amendments” and it is signed “Thanks from much more hopeful souls, Bobbi Beavers and Cathi Robishaw” In this post, you state that Senator Faircloth’s proposal as: “ **prospectively allows all adoptees unrestricted access to their OBC upon reaching the age of 40 and to adoptee descendants if the adoptee is deceased.”
The error that I made about prospective and retrospective was made by you and Bobbi Beavers. I only quoted what you wrote. When did it change? Why didn’t you alert everyone to the fact that your own breakdown report was either in error or had been changed?
You state: “We saw no movement at all that Representative Davis’ bill was garnering any more support.”
Each and every report that I received stated that Representative Davis’ bill had 5 votes. By the end of March, it still only had 5 votes. I deduced from this that his bill had picked up no additional support from the committee members.
You state: “At this point, we felt we had no option but to act.” Oh really? Who are you, our parent? Somehow I must have missed the memo putting you in charge.
NOBODY puts Bastard Nation in charge. We are an international adoptee rights organization that advocates for equal treatment for all adopted adults concerning unconditional access to their birth certificates. We speak out on issues in many different states or countries whenever we feel a need, and we shall continue to do so. We do NOT need an invitation from any state to act or not to act.
This is America. Communication from people in one state to those in another is not prohibited. We enjoy freedom of speech.
You state: “We hope when this bill is voted down, we can start over and all work together to pass a pure open records bill.”NOT A CHANCE.You were not informed, because you are not part of our group. We are not dependent on your participation, and WITH GOOD REASON as all can see. Something that we have been working on for 14 months was completely destroyed within a few days time.
Your bill was destroyed in the Judiciary Committee by Representative Pelletier-Simpson, and your own co-sponsor, Senator Sean Faircloth!
Please remember that we sent representatives to the Hearing on February 28, 2006. Marley Greiner, Chair of Bastard Nation, traveled from Ohio to Augusta to give full support to LD 1805. The Honorable Janet Allen, State Representative of New Hampshire, also traveled to Augusta to give testimony in full support. Bastard Nation member Craig Hickman, a Maine resident, traveled from his home in Maine to the capital to support your bill. Bastard Nation was well represented at the hearing to support LD 1805.
You state: “This blog along with the hateful emails resulting from your action alert has destroyed our credibility.
Any credibility you have lost was not caused by Bastard Nation. You are looking for a scapegoat – don’t look to Bastard Nation. We have always supported bills that give unconditional OBC access to adopted adults. Likewise, we have always opposed bills that put restrictions upon adopted men and women with regards to their OBC’s. This has always been our policy and it will always remain so.
You state: We had much help lined up to defeat these amended versions of the bill; now you and your ilk have taken that away from us. We had a chance, and you people took it upon yourselves to ruin it.
This is the second time I have read this same statement that you had “much help” lined up to defeat the amended versions of the bill. Why on earth didn’t you share this information?
You state: You should be completely ashamed of your actions.
No, we are NOT ashamed of our actions. We are PROUD that we could help stop a BAD BILL FROM PASSING, a bill that we originally supported but one that was turned into a restrictive mess and would have locked up adopted adults for many decades.
You state: You are career victims, and love the struggle. You can say it’s free speech all you want. It still doesn’t excuse the blame you have in this debacle. As far as DEFORMERS go, you people are at the TOP OF THE LIST.
We created the term “Deformers” to describe adopted adults who are willing to accept restricted, conditional legislation. We do not accept conditional legislation.
If you are looking to blame someone for the mess in Maine, please look elsewhere for your scapegoat. We reject all of your claims.
Sincerely,
Anita Walker Field
Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization
Executive Secretary
[email protected]