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02/27/2006

World Congress of Families Applauds French Government Report on Same-Sex 'Marriage'
"..Marriage is not merely the contractual recognition of the love between a couple; it is a framework that imposes rights and duties, and that is designed to provide for the care and harmonious development of the child.”

 MEDIA ADVISORY, Feb. 27 /Christian Newswire/ -- The World Congress of Families is encouraged by the recent report of an official French commission which rejects so-called same-sex marriage.

The government commission, established at the request of the President of the French National Assembly, decided to oppose gay marriage for the most salient of reasons – the welfare of children.

Before it issued the Parliamentary Report on the Family and the Rights of Children, the commission conducted 14 round-table discussions with 130 individuals representing the diversity of French society. Commissioners also traveled to the U.K, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada to assess changes in those countries. It concluded that it was in the best interests of children to maintain the traditional definition of marriage.

World Congress of Families Founder Allan Carlson declared: “Pro-family advocates everywhere are heartened by the report. Mothers and fathers are indispensable. Little Heather’s living arrangement (‘Heather Has Two Mommies’) works best in works of fiction.”

The Report put the matter succinctly, stating it “is not possible to think about marriage separately from filiation (the fact of being a child of certain parents): the two questions are closely connected, in that marriage is organized around the child. Marriage is not merely the contractual recognition of the love between a couple; it is a framework that imposes rights and duties, and that is designed to provide for the care and harmonious development of the child.”

The report noted that same-sex marriage will inevitably lead to adoption by homosexual couples, who would even be able to demand state-support for surrogate child-bearing.

Carlson observed: “When pro-family groups have said the same thing, we were derided by the elite as backward and religion-obsessed. Now a commission of the French government – a nation revered by the liberal chattering class – endorses our position. No wonder the report has been largely ignored in the mainstream media.”

Preservation of the natural family will be prominent on the program of World Congress of Families IV in Warsaw, Poland, May 11-13, 2007. WCF IV is expected to be the largest international gathering of pro-family leaders and activists. For more information on the upcoming Warsaw Congress, as well as past Congresses, go to www.worldcongress.org.

The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society is an independent, non-profit research and education center that strives to be the leading source of fresh ideas and new strategies for affirmation and defense of the natural family, both nationally and globally. The Howard Center is also the founder and organizer of the World Congress of Families project which unites people of goodwill who recognize that the family is the fundamental unit of society and coordinates the efforts of pro-family groups from more the 60 countries worldwide.