World Congress of Families Lists Speakers for Upcoming Gathering
Below is a list of speakers for the upcoming meeting of the anti-LGBT hate group World Congress of Families in Verona, Italy. To read the full story about the gathering, click here.
路 Lorenzo Fontana, Italian minister for family and disability. Fontana, a far-right Catholic, is a member of the right-wing Lega Party. He has spent years building coalitions between that organization and foreign far-right parties, including Front National in France. The Italian website Il Post 听as 鈥渢he most right-wing minister of the new government.鈥 Fontana 听that same-sex marriage and changing concepts of gender would 鈥渨ipe out our community and our traditions.鈥 He has also said that same-sex couples who have children via surrogacy abroad 听as legal guardians.
路 Marco Bussetti, Italy鈥檚 minister for education, universities and research. Bussetti 听from the University of Perugia meant to poll teenagers on a range of topics pertaining to 人兽性交 rights, women鈥檚 rights and migration issues. He also 听in Italian classrooms. Bussetti works closely with Generazione Familigia, which partnered with Madrid-based anti-LGBT group CitizenGO in against 鈥済ender鈥 in schools that featured CitizenGO鈥檚 .
路 Federico Sboarina, mayor of Verona. Sboarina is a member of the Forza Italia party, considered center-right. Sboarina was 听over his plan to remove books and publications from libraries and municipal or contracted schools that depict same-sex unions in a positive light. Sboarina has presided over other anti-LGBT actions, such as 听slated for the historic Tocat矛 festival, calling it 鈥渦nsuitable content.鈥 In 2018, city councilors passed a motion declaring Verona officially 鈥減ro-life.鈥
路 Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis (born Countess Gloria von Sch枚nburg-Glauchau). Known for her partying ways in the 1980s (鈥淧rincess TNT鈥), she became a more devout Catholic in the 1990s following the death of her husband. A friend of Pope Benedict and, more recently, , she 听that the high rates of AIDS in Africa was not because of a lack of safe sex practices, but because 鈥渂lacks like to copulate.鈥 She 听that homosexuality is 鈥渁gainst nature.鈥
路 Archpriest Dmitri Smirnov. One of the Russian Orthodox Church鈥檚 most prominent officials, he 听that 鈥渢here is very little time left until the death of the entire Christian civilization鈥 because Islam will sweep the continent, and the young men willing to die for Islam 鈥渄on鈥檛 want to live in a state ruled by homosexuals.鈥 Smirnov 听the Patriarchal Commission on the Family and the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, which works closely with WCF.
路听John Eastman, 听at Chapman University. Eastman also serves as 听of the anti-LGBT National Organization for Marriage. Over the years, he has ; 听for Uganda鈥檚 harsh anti-LGBT bill that would impose life sentences in some instances; and 听鈥渁 good portion of this [LGBT] movement seeks to remove age of consent so they can have sex with teenage boys.鈥
路 Reverend Jim Garlow, formerly of California megachurch Skyline Church. Garlow is , where he ministers to lawmakers, ambassadors and federal government employees. He is also a member of President Trump鈥檚 evangelical advisory board. Garlow has a long history of anti-LGBT activism and statements, like 听Satan is using homosexuality to destroy God鈥檚 image on Earth, and that it鈥檚 a 鈥渄emonic happening in our midst.鈥 In February, he was apparently asked to skip a Bible study event at the Israeli parliament because it coincided with an annual LGBT event and there were fears of a PR disaster for Garlow.
路 Theresa Okafor, president, Foundation for African Cultural Heritage in Nigeria. A staple of WCF gatherings, Okafor is the organization鈥檚 African regional director. She has 听harsh anti-LGBT laws that support prison terms for gay sex and that ban 人兽性交 people from meeting in groups.
路 Babette Francis, president of the anti-LGBT and anti-choice Endeavour Forum in Australia. The Forum was set up as 鈥渁 response to militant feminism鈥 and to combat abortion. Francis has in the past 听the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church to homosexuality, and . The Forum has, over the years, posted anti-LGBT materials, 听of anti-LGBT pseudoscience purveyor Paul Cameron and 听of why same-sex marriage is 鈥渉armful鈥. She has also stoked the fires of anti-Muslim 鈥渟tealth Islamization鈥 conspiracy, compared Islam to Nazism and said Christians need to 鈥渓iberate鈥 the world鈥檚 Muslims from Islam via conversion.
路 Mike Donnelly, director of global outreach for the . HSLDA鈥檚 founder and former chair was Michael Farris, currently president of anti-LGBT hate group Alliance Defending Freedom. HSLDA has opposed the federal non-discrimination act, which would protect sexual orientation and gender identity. HSLDA lobbied in 2006 against same-sex marriage and in 2015, following the legalization of same-sex marriage in the US, 听claiming dire consequences for the 鈥渞ights of parents, families, and others.鈥
路听Robert Siedlecki, with the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives with the U.S. Department of Justice. Siedlecki worked closely with the Sam Brownback administration in Kansas as social and rehabilitation secretary, but stepped down after less than a year in office following a tenure 鈥渕arked by controversy over administrative decisions and the governor鈥檚 policies,鈥 , which included criticism over Siedlecki鈥檚 reorganization of management, plans to close some offices and pursuit of religious social services initiatives.
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