Secrets and Lies: A Positive Picket for
Open Records by Bastard Nation
On Saturday, November 30, 1996 Bastard Nation sponsored a positive picket of the film "Secrets and Lies" at the Clay Theater on Clay and Fillmore in San Francisco.
Picketers "Secrets and Lies" tells the story of a British adoptee who accesses her original birth records, searches for and is reunited with her birthmother. The purpose of our picket was to make the public aware that, while an adoptee's original birth record has long been available upon reaching the age of majority in Britain and elsewhere, this is not the case in most of the U.S. and Canada. This is especially important in light of the significant press recently received through the films "Flirting With Disaster", "Secrets and Lies" and a recent episode of the popular television show, "Melrose Place", all of which suggested that an adult adoptee can easily access his or her birth records here in the U.S.. Birth records are still sealed for adult adoptees in all but two states in the U.S.


Jim Saturday morning three of us met at Bastard Nation Research Director Deb Schwarz's house to have brunch and make pickets. We had been provided with a great list of possible slogans from people around the country via the Internet and we thought up a few good ones on our own. We made seven pickets with the following slogans on the front and back: "Sealed Records = Lifelong Secrets and Lies", "Being Adopted is NOT Shameful", "Civil Rights for Adoptees", "This Birth Certificate is a State-sanctioned LIE" (with a copy of Deb's amended birth certificate stapled to the middle of the picket), "Do I look like an Adoptee/Birthmother?", "Pat Robertson Wants us to Shut Up" and "English Adoptees have Open Records - Why Don't We?".

We showed up at the theater at 12.30, a half hour before the first showing, set up an information table and started our picket. The fellow at the ticket window asked what we were doing and we explained that this was a "positive picket" designed to let the public know that adoptee birth records are not open in most of this country as they are in Britain. He adjusted his tie and nodded. No problem.

Merrill Many adoptees, birthparents and adoptive parents came up to the table where we handed out BN brochures, model open records legislation, an adoption book list, fliers for a local search and support group, ISRR registration forms and other adoption-related materials. Seven people were on hand throughout the day to picket and staff the table and others stopped by to see the film after hearing that we were going to be there. A reporter from KRON TV showed up and took some footage. The picketers stood in front of the theater and handed out fliers on "Open Records: Why It's an Issue" and informed people that this was a positive picket. When people streamed out of the theater we offered fliers and told them "What the adoptee in the movie did is illegal here.".

Most people were receptive, even those with teary eyes, and we handed out 300 of the open records fliers. There were only two negative reactions. One was from a woman coming out of the theater who shouted at us "Get out of here and get a life!". I yelled back "YOU get a life! My adoptive parents helped me search!". I don't know whether this was an appropriate response, but I suppose it was a knee-jerk reaction to those who erroneously assume that searching adoptees are "ungrateful" or "maladjusted".

Damsel The other negative reaction was from a middle-aged Frenchman who was walking a old boxer dog. He had the nerve to say to birthmother Merrill Hunn who was staffing the table, "My dog doesn't know he was adopted. If you don't tell them, they don't know. They don't need to know." Overhearing this stinging idiocy, I started to heckle him from the picket line saying "Why don't you come over here and say that to me?!". He walked away. On his way back up the street, Deb called his dog a Bastard and he decided to approach us. Some more gems of wisdom from his mouth. "It's not fair to your adoptive parents. They pay for your college" and "If you search, your adoption should be null and void.".

Deb Luckily, these two incidents were the exception and most people were interested and supportive. Most had no idea that adoptee birth records are permanently sealed and they agreed that it is a violation of the adoptee's civil and human rights. At some point during the 4 o'clock show the cops showed up, probably called either by the disgruntled woman or the Frenchman. Deb and Merrill managed to charm the cops and actually got them on our side. By the time they left with an open records flier and BN brochure they were convinced of the unjustness of sealed records practices in the U.S. - Score!

At 7 pm, just as the evening show was beginning, it started to rain. It was time to head home. As we packed our papers and pickets, table and chairs back into my run-down old station wagon the long line of people waiting to see the film moved forward.
To read the flier on open records we handed out: Open Records
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