New Civil Society Coalition Formed to Protect the Family
A new coalition to confront the growing international threat against the family is launching a pro-family platform to unite organizations against overreach by international institutions.
“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and binding international instruments reserve singular protections for the family in recognition of the family’s irreplaceable role as the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children,” declares The Family Articles organized and led by C-Fam [publisher of the Friday Fax], Family Research Council, HazteOir, CitizenGo, Human Life International, Derecho a Vivir, National Organization for Marriage, and the TransAtlantic Christian Council.
“Relations between individuals of the same sex and other social and legal arrangements that are neither equivalent nor analogous to the family are not entitled to the protections singularly reserved for the family in international law and policy,” the Articles state.
The coalition, called Civil Society for the Family is the first pro-family coalition to explicitly push back against UN entities attempting to redefine the family to include same-sex relations, something the UN General Assembly has also opposed.
“The international community has repeatedly rejected attempts to redefine the family in international law and policy,” the Articles state. “Any mention of the family in UN resolutions and conference outcomes can only be interpreted in reference to a man and a woman united in marriage, and relations that are equivalent or analogous, including single parent families and multigenerational families.”
The platform explains how “pressure to grant international status and recognition to social and legal arrangements between individuals of the same sex in the context of the United Nations has led to confusion and acrimony in international negotiations on the subject of the family. Unfortunately, this has led to the exclusion of the family altogether from recent debates in the UN General Assembly.”
Organizers say The Family Articles are intended to move the debate beyond the current impasse and to encourage delegations who are under increasing pressure to conform.
“The world cannot be held hostage by a small minority of countries blocking any discussion of the family unless they can impose same-sex marriage on the entire world,” said C-Fam president Austin Ruse. “This is harmful both for the family for the United Nations.”
The statement details episodes of overreach by UN entities and bureaucrats who claim same-sex relations must be treated on the same footing as marriage and the family, from the UN Secretary General down to UN agencies, including UNICEF and the World Food Program.
These attempts by UN entities to treat same sex relations as equivalent to the family, including claims that sexual orientation and gender identity are human rights, “cannot give rise to binding legal obligations on sovereign states,” the statement declares.
Governments that treat same-sex relations on the same footing as marriage and the family, including through parental rights “undermine the fundamental human right of children to know and be cared for by their mother and father, and may jeopardize their health and wellbeing.” Social science shows children do best when raised by their mother and father.
The coalition hopes the UN will renew its focus on the family in UN policy, but not at the cost of redefining the family to suit countries that offer same sex relations special benefits or protections. This would be “incompatible with international human rights law,” the platform concludes.
Organizations can join the platform and become members of the coalition “Civil Society for the Family” online.
“We expect hundreds of groups from all over the world to sign onto The Family Articles and to join Civil Society for the Family,” said Ruse
