Join Us At the
World Congress of Families in Madrid!

Dear Supporter of the Family,

I am inviting you to join Family Watch and other leading pro-family organizations and leaders at the upcoming World Congress of Families VI on May 25-27 in Madrid.  You can view the schedule and get registration information here.

If you would like to be a part of Family Watch’s WCF delegation and help us at our booth please contact us. Click here to send us an email.

Family Watch International is an official sponsor of the World Congress of Families VI, and we will have a booth at this conference and will also be participating on the program. 

This will be a unique opportunity for people who are concerned about the family and family values to learn from world renowned experts and leaders.  It also is an important networking opportunity to meet other people from across the world who are also committed to defending and protecting marriage and the family. 

I have a particularly strong appreciation for these world conferences.  Before attending my first World Congress of Families in Geneva in 1999, I had never been involved in a cause.  That experience changed the direction of my life, as I learned about the assaults in almost every area of family life and was instilled with the hope that if we all worked together, we could effectively stop many of these attacks. 

What I learned at that congress and the subsequent ones has allowed me to better protect my family, my community, and my nation from the destructive forces working to destroy marriage, life, parental rights, and religious freedom—all essential elements to successful families.

From my own experience, I can promise that for many attending this meeting in Madrid it will be a life changing personal experience. But this gathering will also result in strengthening marriage and the family in nations around the world.

I look forward to meeting and getting to know many of you in Madrid!

Sincerely,

Sharon Slater
President

News Items of Interest

Abortion

Obama Administration Allows $1 Abortion Insurance Payment Surcharge in Health Care Law.  The final rule on abortion funding in the controversial health care law which has come to be known as “Obamacare” will provide taxpayer funding for elective abortion.  The constitutionality of the health care law is being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.  Read more here. 

U.S. FDA Approves Use of Aborted Babies' Brains for Lab Tests.  StemCells Inc. received approval for a clinical trial that will use fetal brain stem cells to treat patients with macular degeneration.  The brain cells from the aborted fetuses will be injected into the eyes of up to 16 patients to determine the cells’ effect on vision.  Read more here.

Homosexuality Related

Slovenians Reject Additional Rights for Same-sex Couples.  In a referendum pushed by conservative groups and the Catholic Church, citizens voted against giving same-sex couples the same rights as married heterosexuals.  A majority, over 54 percent of voters, rejected a new family code that would have expanded rights for homosexuals.  Read more here.

Military Academy Holds 'Gay Pride' Event.  Norwich University, the oldest private military academy in the U.S. is including events such as “condom Olympics” and a “queer prom.”  The event is being organized by the school’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allies Club.  Read more here.

U.S. HHS Observes 'LGBT Health Awareness Week' With No Mention of HIV/AIDS.  The disease disproportionately affects LGBT individuals, but there was no mention of AIDS in the announcement released by the Department of Health and Human Services.  Read more here.

Marriage Related

European Court Rules Same-sex Marriage/Adoption Not a Right.  In a major defeat for homosexual rights activists, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of a French lesbian couple who filed a complaint after they were they were denied the right to adopt a child as a couple.  The judges found that “the European Convention on Human Rights does not require member states’ governments to grant same-sex couples access to marriage."  Read more here.

Same-sex Benefits for Military Members in Question.  U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is reneging on a promise made by the Pentagon to adhere to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) following the repeal of the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military.  The Obama administration has withheld medical and other benefits from same-sex spouses of military members, but Holder has said he can no longer defend DOMA.  Read more here.

Petition Against Same-sex Marriage in Britain Gains Momentum.  Over 300,000 people have joined a campaign in opposition to David Cameron’s plan to legalize same-sex marriage.  Christian, Sikh, and Muslim leaders have joined in the effort.  Read more here.

White House Directs Insurance Company to Cover Same-sex Spouse of Federal Employee.  Subsequent to a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White that the Defense of marriage Act is unconstitutional, Shirley Patterson, assistant director of federal employee insurance operations for the Office of Personnel Management, rescinded a previous directive and stated that the female employee’s wife should be enrolled in the health benefits plan.  Judge White’s decision is being appealed.  Read more here.

Obama Administration Wants Faster Review of DOMA Homosexual Rights Case.  The U.S. Justice Department asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to speed up its review of a San Francisco lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act that was declared unconstitutional in February.  House Republican leaders hired a team of lawyers when President Obama refused to defend DOMA in court.  The Justice Department has asked the court to bypass the three-judge panel and convene an 11-judge panel.  Read more here.

Marriage is Top Homosexual Issue.  Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director of Lambda Legal, a leading homosexual activist organization, said that with the military ban on open homosexuality having been repealed, same-sex marriage is the most visible and highest priority issue for the group.  The group considers the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, which changed the remaining sodomy laws in the U.S., their greatest victory.  Read more here.

Study Finds U.S. Program to Strengthen Marriage is Successful.  An analysis of U.S. government sponsored healthy marriage programs for low income couples with children resulted in a number of positive benefits that strengthen these marriages.  Read more here.

New Hampshire House Defeats Homosexual Marriage Repeal.  By a vote of 116-211 the state House defeated a bill which would have repealed the law passed two years ago that legalized homosexual marriage.  Read more here.

Maryland Poll Finds Plurality Oppose Homosexual Marriage.  The poll conducted by OpnionWorks found that 43 percent of Marylanders would vote to repeal the homosexual marriage bill recently passed by the legislature and 40 percent would support it.  Read more here.

News Items of General Interest

Scout Council Wins Major Victory Over City of Philadelphia.  The city has been trying to evict the Cradle of Liberty Scout Council from a city building the Scouts have been leasing because of the Scouts’ policy prohibiting openly homosexual boys from being Scouts and openly homosexual men serving as scoutmasters.  A federal district court judge awarded the Scouts nearly $900,000 in legal fees.  Earlier a jury ruled that the city had violated the Scouts’ constitutional rights by targeting them for their homosexual policy.  Read more here.

U.S. Supreme Court Allows Transgender Treatment Rule to Stand.  The court declined to hear an appeal from the Seventh Circuit which upheld a lower court ruling that a Wisconsin law banning medical treatment such as hormone therapy and sex change surgery for gender-confused prisoners was unconstitutional.  Read more here.

ABC News Anchor Admits to ‘Advocacy Journalism.’  Speaking to the Gay and Lesbian League Against Defamation, ABC Good Morning America news anchor Josh Elliott openly admitted what more and more Americans are concluding about the lack of balance and professionalism of the mainstream media.  He openly proclaimed to the group, "I'm proud to work at a place that believes in advocacy journalism!" Read more here.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Defends Obama’s Decision to Restore UNESCO Funding.  Ambassador Susan Rice appeared on Capitol Hill and stated that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) does “essential work, from girls’ education to tsunami warning, that serve U.S. interests,” and that it should not be defunded.  UNESCO is engaged in a number of controversial activities as well, such as publishing a controversial guide to comprehensive sexuality education that promotes teaching five-year-old children about masturbation.  Read more here.

Planned Parenthood Speaker: Good parents Let Teens Have Sex at Home. Amy T Schalet, an assistant sociology professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, spoke at a Planned Parenthood event in California and compared the philosophy of teen sex in the more permissive Netherlands to that of the United States.  Dr. Schalet concluded that parents who allowed open sexual activity in their homes exercised greater parental control over their children than those who preached abstinence.  Read more here.

U.S. HHS Says Free Sterilizations Must be Offered to College Women.  The Department of Health and Human Services announced that all student health care plans covering female college students in the U.S. must include coverage for free sterilization under the Affordable Care Act otherwise known as “Obamacare.”  Non-students will also receive free sterilization.  Read more here.

 

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