To: National & International Desks
Contact: Larry Jacobs, 513-515-3685, 1-800-461-3113, larry@worldcongress.org
MEDIA ADVISORY, June 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- 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.
