Recently it was brought to our attention that a private group rented The Space At GreenStar for the purpose of screening a highly controversial film called “Vaxxed”.

There has been much discussion over the last few days about the ability of a private group to rent a public space for this purpose.  Much of that discussion has been full of passion, and we feel that you deserve to have a full understanding of why we are so upset about this screening.

Many years ago, a doctor by the name of Andrew Wakefield published a study that said there was a link between the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine and increased incidents of autism spectrum disorder.  This study was published in a medical journal, and was later retracted by that journal when it was discovered that Dr. Wakefield had falsified the information in this study.

Over the course of many years, scientists all around the world debunked Wakefield’s study, and at the same time celebrities took to the airways touting Wakefield’s “science” and claiming that vaccines were the cause of autism. All this, despite the fact that the science had proven, repeatedly, that there was no link.

Why is this a problem?  Well, it is a public health crisis, for one.  Babies in our country and around the globe are dying of measles, a disease that was not of great concern until Jenny McCarthy and other celebrities decided to use their positions of power to tell people not to vaccinate their children.  Diseases that had long been eradicated are returning and they are killing our children. People have ignored the meaning of herd immunity all in the name of faux science. 

The other major concern for many of us is that this message boils down to one thing: people who don’t want to vaccinate their babies out of a fear that their child would be autistic would rather risk their child’s life.  They don’t understand the science of the vaccines, nor do they understand that autism is simply a different neurological processing system.  They do not understand that it’s viewed as a disability because people who are not autistic and who are able bodied have created a world in which people who are different have no access or reduced access to the same things that they do.  They do not understand that what they are saying is “I’d rather that my baby die of measles than be like you”. 

When you as a business allow for something like this in the name of simply needing to rent out the space, your permission for their message is implicit. 

Your community is upset.  Your customers are asking for more action than a canned response that you don’t endorse the message.  When you allow groups with messages of hate and which put the public health at risk, you endorse it.  

We are asking you to reverse this decision, stand WITH your community. 

- Laura Riker