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Brussels, 28 March 2007
Ellen Sauerbrey
Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration
U.S. Department of State2201 C Street NWWashington, DC 20520
Dear Assistant Secretary
Sauerbrey,
We understand that you have accepted an invitation to speak at the World
Congress on Families, organized by the Howard Center for Family, Religion and
Society in Warsaw, 11-13 May.
We urge you to withdraw from this conference because your participation provides
an official U.S. government stamp of approval to extremist and intolerant views
held by some participants and attendees. These extremist and intolerant views
include prejudiced attitudes toward foreigners, people from other religions,
homosexuals, and the inclusive vision of what represents a family unit that has
been developed by the United Nations and the European Union.
Organizations like the Howard Center may hold whatever gatherings they choose,
but it ill-behooves a senior representative of the U.S. government to bestow
legitimacy on the marginal and extremist views that target some of the most
vulnerable people in society.
We fear that by providing official support for these views, you will undermine
Europe-wide efforts to promote tolerance in Europe, especially among newer
members of the European Union.
The sole aim of the World Congress on Families is to turn back the clock on
recent advances in civil and political rights around the world, with the work
done at the U.N. and at the E.U. a particular target. In your role as Assistant
Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, you must be aware of
the impact that the unrepresentative views of the people attending this
conference will have on the life and death issues that affect the world’s poor.
As European parliamentarians we feel that it is a diplomatic faux pas for a
high-ranking official of the U.S. Department of State to participate in the
upcoming Warsaw event with individuals whose views oppose what is laid out in
the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. The following sample will illustrate
just how extreme are the views that will be represented at this meeting.
Fr. Thomas Euteneuer is the president of Human Life International and represents
an organization that has continuously courted controversy through extremist
actions and statements, such as publicly accusing Jews of controlling the
abortion-rights movement and calling sniper attacks on doctors who perform
abortions “a superb tactic.”
Steven W. Mosher is president of the Population Research Institute, which, in
its FAQs, discusses the alleged “demographic destruction” in Europe by claiming
that Muslims are to blame. “These immigrants, particularly Muslim ones in
Europe, are too many and too culturally different from their new countries'
populations to assimilate quickly, and they are contributing to the cultural
suicide of these nations as they commit demographic suicide.”
Austin Ruse is the president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute
and has made tasteless jokes about violence against women when he made remarks
about “taking out” Hillary Clinton and obstructing the work of international
organizations. “Hillary [Clinton] is the ‘conquering queen’ at the United
Nations…I was standing on the floor of the UN a couple of months ago, when she
was thinking about running, and I was talking to a priest from the Holy See
delegation and—I shouldn’t tell you this but he offered me guaranteed absolution
if I just took her out—and not on a date.” - “And then we broke every single
rule of UN lobbying…something like pandemonium ensued.”
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the
Family has made dangerous and unscientific statements about condom use to
prevent HIV and AIDS. The most notorious was perhaps during his appearance on a
BBC documentary on the subject, when he said that the HIV virus is small enough
to pass through condoms and promoting condom use is like playing "Russian
roulette" with AIDS. He remarks further that "safe-sex" campaigns are dangerous
because they increase promiscuity and give condom users a false sense of
security.
A
key sponsor of the conference, the Family Research Council, recently developed
an advertising campaign that attacked Christians who do not agree with it as
being against people of faith and anti-Christian.
Another major sponsor is Poland's Fr. Peter Skarga Association for Christian
Culture whose chairman gave a speech in October 2004 during which he vehemently
opposed the European Constitution's Charter of Fundamental Rights claiming that
“the equality of sexes in all areas shall lead to the obliteration of
traditional and natural social roles of men and women.”
You will, no doubt, be aware of the recent concerns many have raised about the
current political climate in Poland. Recently, the European Parliament
overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on member countries “firmly to
condemn homophobic hate speech or incitement to hatred and violence.” This was
in part driven by events in Warsaw, where in both 2004 and 2005 the then-mayor
of Warsaw and now president of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, banned gay rights
parades, accusing them of “propagating gay orientation.” In addition he refused
to meet with the organizers calling them “perverts.” In 2004, when some gay
rights activists marched peacefully to protest his decision, they were attacked
by skinheads, whom Kaczynski then defended.
A
special concern of ours relates to how this conference intends to deal with the
concept of family. The European Union defines family members, in the context of
free movement within the E.U., as including registered partners if the
legislation of the host member state considers registered partnership as
equivalent to marriage, as several European nations do. In addition, the concept
of a durable relationship has also been ratified, meaning that couples in
long-standing relationships are considered family members.
In reviewing the agenda and speakers’ list for the conference, we fear that many
of the speakers will be hostile to this inclusive vision of what represents a
family in the 21st century. Many speakers have themselves or represent
organizations that have expressed outright hostility to recognizing any family
unit that does not include a married couple and their offspring. Their targets
include unmarried heterosexual couples—even those in long-term, committed
relationships, single parents and homosexual couples. Given the recent history
of homophobic attacks in Poland, we are very concerned that some extremist
elements may use the cover provided by the conference to cause violence against
gay men and women, something which we are sure you do not condone.
The United States rightly prides itself on supporting and spreading religious
tolerance, pluralism and inclusion. This conference, and many who will be
attending, reject that ethos outright. We have no problem with people expressing
beliefs and convictions that we do not share. In a free society, that is right
and just. However, we do object when foreign government officials lend support
to such views, especially when platforms are used to denigrate and attack those
with whom they disagree.
We urge you to withdraw from participating in the event. If you are open to
learning more about E.U. policies concerning families, women’s rights,
children’s rights and about the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, we would
be very happy to welcome you as a special guest in a meeting of the European
Parliamentary Working Group on Separation of Religion and Politics.
Yours sincerely,
Sophie in’t Veld
Magda Kosane Kovacs
Karin Resetarits
Carlotti, Marie-Arlette France
Cashman, Michael
United Kingdom
Corbett,
Richard United Kingdom
De Rossa, Proinsias
Ireland
Gaubert, Patrick
France
Gibault, Claire France
Kallenbach,
Gisela Germany
Lambert, Jean United Kingdom
Levai, Katalin
Hungary
Lichtenberger, Eva Austria
Onesta, Gérard France
Svensson, Eva-Britt Sweden
Tabajdi, Csaba Hungary
Van den Berg,
Max The Netherlands
Van Lancker, Anne Belgium
Zimmer, Gabi
Germany |
