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WORLD CONGRESS APPLAUDS AUSTRALIA’S REJECTION OF SAME-SEX UNIONS
Dr Allan Carlson, organizer of the World Congress of Families, congratulated
Australia’s national government for invalidating legislation passed by the
Australian Capital Territory (ACT) which would have created gay civil unions.
The Capital Territory is a self-governing area which includes the nation’s
capital of Canberra. By a 32-30 vote in the Senate, Australia's federal
government succeeded Thursday in upholding its ban on the capital territory's
legislation enabling civil unions between same-sex couples.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the unions envisioned by the
legislation were too similar to marriage. In 2004, Australia formalized its
federal marriage laws to ensure that the incidents of marriage could only be
bestowed on a man and a woman.
Carlson commented: “The ACT move was a Trojan Horse. Once all of the rights
and privileges flowing from marriage are bestowed on same-sex couples, it’s
illogical to withhold the name.”
“The Howard government rightly understands that creating pseudo-unions which
ape traditional marriage devalues the only unions capable of producing children.
It undermines the natural family – the only arrangement for successfully
nurturing the next generation,” Carlson observed.
Carlson noted that, even in secular Europe, the value of traditional marriage
has recently been affirmed. In March, a commission established by the President
of the French National Assembly recommended against extending marriage to
same-sex couples in France. Its report declared that the interests of children
are paramount here, that “marriage is not merely the contractual recognition of
the love between a couple; it is a framework that implies rights and duties, and
is designed to provide for the care and harmonious development of the child.”
In the United States, the move for civil unions has gone hand-in-hand with
the push for gay marriage. In April of 2000, Vermont’s supreme court forced
civil unions on the state. Four years later, the judiciary in neighboring
Massachusetts instituted gay marriage.
Carlson observed: “Defenders of traditional marriage and the natural family
will not be intimidated by cries of bigotry. The future of the family, and
ultimately civilization, is at stake in the debate over civil unions and
same-sex marriage”
The World Congress of Families recently concluded a successful planning
meeting in Warsaw for World Congress of Families IV. WCF IV will take place in
Poland’s capital, May 9-11, 2007. Pro-family groups from around the world will
converge on Warsaw to plan effective strategies for countering assaults on the
family, including gay marriage.
For more information on the World Congress of Families, go to
www.worldcongress.org. To schedule an interview with Dr. Carlson, contact Larry
Jacobs at 815-964-5819.
What is the World Congress of Families? -- In response to a militantly
anti-family ethos prevalent in the ‘post modern’ West, the World Congress of
Families fosters an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars,
and leaders that seeks to restore the natural family as the fundamental social
unit and the ‘seed bed’ of a civil society. To date, there have been three World
Congresses of Families – Prague (1997), Geneva (1999) and Mexico City (2004).
WCF IV will be in Warsaw, Poland, May 11-13, 2007.
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