Anti-LGBT hate group World Congress of Families to gather this week in Budapest
Each year, anti-LGBT hate group World Congress of Families holds a major annual summit, in addition to smaller regional gatherings. The summit often attracts around three thousand people, and it鈥檚 held in major cities around the world.
UPDATES:听As of May 22, Benjamin Bull is no longer listed on the schedule and neither is Katharina Rothweiler. However, Adina Portraru, legal advisor, ADF International (Belgium), is still listed as a panelist as is Sophia Kuby, who is listed as director of European Advocacy for ADF International (Germany).听Ben Carson's name also no longer appeared on听.
Although Congressman Jeff Fortenberry's name was on the scheduled list of speakers, he claims he did not attend the event.
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This year, the eleventh听annual gathering听is slated for May 25 through 28 (with WCF events scheduled May 26 and 27) for Budapest, Hungary, with the theme 鈥淏uilding Family-Friendly Nations: Making Families Strong Again,鈥� and already the speakers鈥� list is shaping up as a who鈥檚 who on the anti-LGBT and anti-choice Christian Right.
WCF and its conferences serve as important networking sites for Christian Right activists from around the world, and often include local legislators and religious officials. The Budapest host committee was led by Hungarian government official Katalin Nov谩k, Secretary of State for Youth, Family and International Affairs, which falls under the purview of Hungary鈥檚 Ministry of Capacities, headed by cabinet minister Zoltan Balog.
Balog, along with a Hungarian delegation, attended the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., held in February.
It鈥檚 no accident that WCF is spending a lot of time in Eastern Europe. The group has and may have played a role in the passage of Russia鈥檚 anti-LGBT laws. Last year, WCF met in Tbilisi, Georgia, where speakers engaged in conspiracy theories about abortion, 鈥渃ultural Marxism鈥� and 鈥溾�� and linked LGBT people to pedophilia.
In a , WCF managing director Larry Jacobs claimed that Hungary 鈥渉as demonstrated its strategic leadership as an advocate for the natural family in Europe.鈥�
The idea of a 鈥溾�� is a key aspect of WCF鈥檚 anti-LGBT and anti-choice ideology, and touts the idea that the only valid family consists of a non-trans heterosexual man married to a non-trans heterosexual woman and their biological children.
Closely linked to this idea is the concept of听so-called 鈥�,鈥� an idea based on conspiracy theories that humans are doomed because birthrates (particularly in European countries) are allegedly falling, something caused by abortion, birth control, homosexuality and other perceived 鈥渦nnatural deviations鈥� from the 鈥渘atural family.鈥�
WCF and its parent, the International Organization for the Family (formerly the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society), have touted 鈥渘atural family鈥� as a rallying point for years, and the idea has gained purchase among Christian Right activists worldwide hoping to ensure both the continued marginalization of LGBT people and lack of access to certain kinds of reproductive healthcare for women.
in the battles over LGBT equality between Russia and western countries, as countries that have long been homophobic grapple with changing attitudes toward LGBT people and the progressive stances of the European Union 鈥� of which some Eastern European states are members.
Russia鈥檚 passage of anti-LGBT laws that have endangered the lives and livelihoods of its LGBT citizens has added additional fuel to the anti-LGBT fire in Eastern Europe, where homosexuality is often painted as immoral, perverted, and a radical import from the West.
Hungary鈥檚 current government is fronted by the right-wing populist party , which came to power in 2010. The party that centralized federal power and undid democratic checks and balances, including on media. Amidst a rising wave of corruption and scandal, the 鈥� the only party with comparable public support 鈥� may be able in 2018. Jobbik supports detention camps for Roma 鈥渄eviants鈥� and has argued that Jews are a national security risk.
It鈥檚 no surprise, thus, that the WCF, which pushes for theocratic nationalism couched in the rhetoric of the benign-sounding 鈥渘atural family,鈥� would hold a summit in Hungary and welcome Hungarian government officials.
WCF is tight-lipped about the schedule and speakers this year (they haven鈥檛 posted one at the conference website), but the Budapest Family Summit website of WCF speakers and panels slated for May 26 and 27. Opening ceremonies include the Deputy Mayor for Human Affairs of Budapest and the Deputy State Secretary for International and EU Affairs, part of the Ministry of Human Capacities. The WCF flag will be transferred to Katalin Nov谩k.
The opening ceremonies include religious figures, like Rev. of Skyline Church and Rev. Dimitry Smirnov of the Russian Orthodox Church (Patriarchal Commission on the Family). Smirnov homosexuality to a plague.
Here are some of those scheduled to speak:
Benjamin Bull, director of Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADF), an anti-LGBT hate group, will be speaking in 鈥淓merging Leaders Pro-Family Training: How to Win at Networking, Campaigning, Fundraising, and Advocacy.鈥� Bull of gay sex in India in 2013, which includes a penalty of up to ten years in prison. ADF has supported the criminalization of gay sex and currently is working to enact so-called 鈥渂athroom bills鈥� around the country to prevent trans people from using public restrooms and public facilities in accordance with their gender identities. ADF is pushing the same policies in schools. ADF is also active in promoting and enacting so-called 鈥渞eligious liberty鈥� laws in the U.S. and abroad, which allow Christians to claim a religious belief in order to discriminate against LGBT people.听Also speaking is Katharina Rothweiler, of Red Familia in Mexico, an anti-choice organization. She is also affililated with ADF, according to the program.
*Update: As of May 22, Benjamin Bull is no longer listed on the schedule and neither is Katharina Rothweiler. However, Adina Portraru, legal advisor, ADF International (Belgium), is still listed as a panelist as is Sophia Kuby, who is listed as director of European Advocacy for ADF International (Germany).
Ben Carson, Director of Housing and Urban Development in the Trump administration, will be doing a presentation (the subject and title are not listed). Carson that homosexuality is a 鈥渃hoice,鈥� and that prison rape can make people gay. He has made other comments, in 2015 that not taking a strong stance against the government will lead to 鈥渕ass killings鈥� and he that the Biblical figure of Joseph built the pyramids in Egypt to 鈥渟tore grain.鈥�
*Update: As of May 22, Carson's name no longer appeared on the schedule.
Don Feder is WCF鈥檚 director of coalitions. In addition to his role at WCF, Feder sits on the of the anti-immigrant hate group Federation for American Immigration Reform, which was founded by white nationalist John Tanton. Feder has a long history working against LGBT equality. He has also argued against adding Harriet Tubman to the $20 bill because 鈥淎merican history was made by white males, who were overwhelmingly Christian,鈥� and has called for 鈥淚slam control.鈥� Feder will be speaking on a panel dealing with 鈥渄emographic winter.鈥�
Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) will be delivering a welcome speech.听Fortenberry has a , including opposition to employment protections that include LGBT people and protecting anti-same-sex marriage opinions as free speech (such opinions are already protected under the U.S. Constitution). He has also voted yes to Constitutionally define marriage as between one man and one woman and, in 2013, voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.
听*Update: Although Fortenberry's name was on the scheduled list of speakers, he claims he did not attend the event.
Errol Naidoo, of the virulently anti-LGBT in South Africa will be speaking on how family is portrayed in media. He radical feminists and gays and lesbians for creating a 鈥渃ulture of death鈥� that is 鈥渟lowly killing off the human family in Western civilization.鈥� As a result, he continued, these groups and their 鈥渃ulture of death鈥� are responsible not only for 鈥渄iminishing rights鈥� of听 Christians in South Africa, but also a massacre that took place at the Marikana mine in 2012, in which 44 people (many of them miners) were shot by security forces, mostly in the backs.
Theresa Okafor, Foundation for African Cultural Heritage in Nigeria, is scheduled for a panel titled 鈥淏uilding Family-Friendly Countries.鈥� Okafor,听WCF鈥檚 African regional director and recipient of WCF鈥檚 2015 鈥淲oman of the Year鈥� award, for and supported harsh anti-LGBT laws in her area that support prison terms for gay sex and that ban gay people from meeting in groups. She has also suggested that pro-equality activists are in league with the jihadist terrorists of Boko Haram in a conspiracy to silence Christians.
Everett Piper, president of Oklahoma-Wesleyan University, is scheduled for a session titled 鈥淏uilding Family-Friendly Nations, Making Families Strong Again.鈥� Piper has been making the rounds on the anti-LGBT circuit over the past few years, and delivered the final keynote address at the 2015 Salt Lake City WCF gathering, in which gay rights activists and other liberals for 鈥渋deological fascism鈥� and claimed there is a 鈥渨ar against Christians鈥� in the culture. 鈥淭he rainbow flag of tolerance has become the dark flag of tyranny overnight,鈥� at another event in 2015. He has that secularists and radical Islamists are working together, aided by then-President Obama.
Austin Ruse is the president of the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam), another anti-LGBT hate group and will be speaking on a panel titled 鈥淔amily Advocacy at International Institutions." C-Fam, which is , garnered press in March when it was revealed that Lisa Correnti, the group鈥檚 executive vice president, was named by the State Department to the U.S. delegation to the UN鈥檚 annual Committee on the Status of Women. C-Fam has a long history of anti-LGBT and anti-reproductive rights activity and works through the UN to derail rights for both LGBT people and women. Ruse has made inflammatory statements in the past, including calling for left-wing professors to be 鈥溾�� and homosexuality to pederasty.
Sharon Slater president of the Arizona-based anti-LGBT hate group Family Watch听International, will be speaking on the panel with Ruse (see above). She anti-LGBT and anti-choice activism at the UN and in Africa for years. In her book, Stand for the Family Slater links homosexuality to pedophilia, claims that LGBT people 鈥渞ecruit鈥� children, and claims that homosexuality can be 鈥渟uccessfully treated.鈥� Resource materials on the FWI website claim that 鈥渃hildren raised in same-sex households have serious problems.鈥�
Journalist Franciso Tatad, who served as Minister of Information under Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is speaking on the panel with Theresa Okafor (see above). From 1969 to 1980 Tatad served in the Marcos regime and took to the airwaves in 1972 to read Marcos鈥� declaration of martial law. He resigned as Minister of Information in 1980 and was later elected as a senator after the fall of Marcos (1987) and served 1992 through 2001. At gathering in Salt Lake City he claimed that threats to the family and society aren鈥檛 just those who deny God, but those who actively hate God.
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