Stand for the Family Conference Taking Place in Utah

Anti-LGBTQ activists are hosting yet another conference on allegedly "protecting the family" against LGBTQ equality. Family Watch International is hosting the Stand for the Family Conference this week, which will promote the idea that "the international sexual rights agenda is threatening families and targeting children worldwide."

Among the most critical issues discussed will be:
 

• How a sexual rights agenda is being used around the world to threaten families and especially to target innocent children.


• How the issue of same-sex attraction is being misconstrued and how to address it with understanding and compassion.


• How parental rights are being undermined and what can be done to protect those rights.

The Stand for the Family Conference will take place in the Utah Valley Convention Center in Provo, Utah on September 18-19. The event will begin with a "kick-off rally" at the Utah State Capitol Building on the evening of September 18th, followed by a day of workshops on September 19th.

The Stand for the Family Conference is a who's who of the anti-LGBTQ movement, featuring several high-profile activists condemned in the new Human Rights Campaign report, Export of Hate. Scheduled speakers include Brian Brown (president of the National Organization for Marriage), Sharon Slater (president of Family Watch International), and Robert Oscar Lopez (founder of the English Manif blogging collective).

The conference schedule will include screenings of the anti-LGBTQ documentary Cultural Imperialism: The Sexual Rights Agenda and the so-called ex-gay documentary Understanding Same-Sex Attraction, produced by Family Watch International and NARTH. Scheduled workshops include:

• The Sexual Rights Agenda: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Family


• The National Strategy for Protecting Marriage


• The Status of Marriage in the Courts & How the Supreme Court Ruling Will Affect the Battle


• How Marriage & Sexuality Impact Individuals and Generations


• Changing the Population Paradigm: Why the World Needs Families


• Reclaiming Ground & Standing for the Family

The Religious Right's homophobic rhetoric is getting tiresome. More and more people realize that by obstructing LGBTQ equality, Religious Right activists are protecting their prejudices, not families. Bigotry will not produce stable marriages, happy families, or healthy children; rather, it will foster an environment in which people are dehumanized for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Enough with the "pro-family" propaganda. Call a spade a shovel and admit that this is about intolerance, not family.

(Hat tip to Good As You)