Moscow incarnation of WCF conference calls for global “gay propaganda” ban
Editor’s Note: This article originally stated that the World Congress of Families conference in Melbourne was a replacement event for the Moscow conference. This was incorrect — the Melbourne event was a regional satellite event of the WCF. The article has been updated to reflect this.
A GLOBAL call for governments to introduce Russian-style gay propaganda laws has been issued by the anti-gay Moscow International Forum, formerly the World Congress of Families conference.
The internationally-attended event saw organisers issue an “urgent appeal to the nations of the world”, claiming society will crumble unless the “natural family” is upheld.
“The preservation of mankind is based on a system of family and kindred ties that are formed through the bonds of marriage between a male and a female and the children born to them,” the statement reads.
“This and only this alone, is capable of ensuring the reproduction, stability and continuity of human civilization.”
The conference calls for: an end to attempts to “foist specific sexual lifestyles and preferences” on society; to support research into the “negative social and psychological effects of raising children in same-gender couples”; Russian-style ban on “propaganda concerning homosexual relationships”; among other measures.
The Moscow International Forum was originally organised under the banner of the US-based World Congress of Families, but according to Right Wing Watch the WCF “suspended” their involvement following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Star Observer has contacted the Melbourne organisers of the WCF conference to find out whether they support the measures called for by Moscow.
A number of Australian politicians who had planned to attend the Melbourne conference, including federal Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews and Victorian Attorney-General Robert Clark, are yet to offer specific condemnation of the WCF’s anti-gay and anti-women views.
I was horrified to see that one of the keynote speakers at the Moscow bigotfest was someone from the neofascist French National Front party. Are ‘our’ bigots also hiding a pair of jackboots under the bed, one wonders?