Ruth Institute Questions Why Radicals Think Pro-Family Equals Anti-LGBTQ

Right Wing Watch – a project of People for the American Way that routinely misrepresents family advocates – responded to the Ruth Institute’s Feb. 21 presentation of its Make the Family Great Again petition at the State Dept. Commission on Unalienable Rights.

A Right Wing Watch article claims both the Ruth Institute petition and the Commission itself were created to help advance what it calls an “anti-equality agenda,” a term frequently used to smear and dismiss arguments for the right to life and defense of the family.

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D., Founder and President of the Ruth Institute, said,

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: Every person comes into the world as a helpless baby. Every person has a mother and a father. Infancy is the one truly universal human experience. Is respecting this fact what Right Wing Watch regards as ‘anti-equality?’”

Morse continued:

“Our Petition doesn’t mention LGBTQ, homosexuality or ‘same-sex marriage.’ We focus on the rights of children and parents.”

Morse’s statement to the Commission reiterated the rights enumerated in the petition:

1. The right of every child to a relationship with his or her natural mother and father, except for an unavoidable tragedy
2. The right of every person without exception, to know the identity of his or her biological parents
3. The right to life from conception to natural death
4. The right of families to educate their own children in their faith tradition and values, without being undermined by the state

“Which of these rights does People for the American Way think are ‘anti-equality?’” Morse asked.

“Does Right Wing Watch think children have no right to a relationship with, or to know the identity of, their parents? Maybe Right Wing Watch and its parent organization, People for the American Way, do not believe parents have the right to raise their children in accordance with their values. If so, let them tell us: who does have the right to direct the education of children?”

The Ruth Institute’s petition gained more than 8,000 signatures at its partner site for this project, LifePetitions.com. Signers included leaders and activists from 15 countries, among them former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Alveda King (niece of Dr. Martin King, Jr.), Nigerian Bishop Emmanuel Badejo, and Fr. Boniface Ssenteza (National Scouting Chaplain of Uganda).

People for the American Way and Right Wing Watch also accused the Commission, headed by Harvard Law Professor and former Ambassador to the Holy See, Mary Ann Glendon, of promoting a “right-wing interpretation of religious liberty.”

Morse countered:

“The Constitution prohibits government interference with the free exercise of religion. That is neither right-wing nor left-wing. The sexual revolutionaries simply want to avoid an honest debate on these important topics.”

Find the Make the Family Great Again petition here, and a complete text of Dr. Morse’s testimony to the Commission on Unalienable Rights here.

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The Ruth Institute is an international interfaith coalition to defend the family and build a Civilization of Love. Find more information here.

Jennifer Roback Morse is the author of The Sexual State: How Elite Ideologies Are Destroying Lives.

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Also see: “I’m a Veteran Gay Rights Activist, and I Oppose Commercial Surrogacy”