By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources (http://www.originalsources.com)
August 24, 1999
On my website there is a petition, One of the few people who have seen the rapid growth of the anti-family movement is Susan Roylance. I met Susan soon after she got back from attending the UN Beijing Women's Conference in 1995. She has been at UN conferences at key points in the past four years, representing the traditional family and the importance of the mother in the traditional family. I received the following e-mail from her yesterday, explaining the extraordinary, and rapid growth, of a movement intended to reduce population by trying to convince women that they do not want to be mothers and encouraging "other forms" of sexual gratification besides normal heterosexual relations within the bonds of matrimony. This has led to the determined effort on the part of some to teach acceptance of bizarre new definitions of, and acceptance of abnormal sex that does not produce offspring as not only "normal" but superior to heterosexual relations which produce babies.
We learned, during the impeachment trial of President Clinton, how this movement has taken control of many throughout our land when the President of the United States informed America, and the world, that oral sex was not real "sex" and therefore when he denied "having sex with that woman" he was not, in his own opinion, lying to the Grand Jury.
To explain how this amazing concept has developed in the last four years, I am printing below Susan's e-mail to me, giving the background of its growth from the time of the Beijing Women's Conference to the present time:
Dear Mary,
Today I received another letter in the mail with a request to sign the Call to the Families of the World. As I pondered the importance of supporting this document, I felt the need to share how it all began, in
hopes that this information will increase the support for this important document.
Four years ago (Spring 1995) I was invited by a friend in Washington DC to meet with the U.S. Delegation to the UN in New York City. They were trying to gather a group of women from all over the United States, representing many organizations and religions, to request more support for mothers and families in the document being prepared for the Fourth World Conference on Women to be held later in the year in Beijing. I was asked to be a representative of a Western state, and Mormon women. While I had no official authority to represent Mormon women, I could not find anyone else who could attend.
On the day of my arrival at the UN, another friend pulled me into an informal meeting of the Linkage Caucus. This was a meeting of leaders (and followers) of feminist organizations, who were trying to create an international document that would "empower" women throughout the world. Soon after I arrived at the meeting, a women rushed into the room with the devastating news that the word "gender" had just been bracketed throughout the document, until it was properly defined. The delegate from Honduras had requested the bracketing of "gender" because a member of the Secretariat had said it DID NOT mean "male or female."
The women in the meeting became very agitated over this action, and finally someone said, "We need to find out who is in this room" (because they were started to formulate a strategy for opposing this action).
Many of my friends left the room, but when it came my turn I stood and said that I was Susan Roylance from United Families of America. At that point the room broke into laughter and jeers. It was a shocking
experience for me - to realize that the word "family" was such a distasteful thing to these women.
In the next few days there were demonstrations, with women shouting the words "gender, gender, gender." A committee was formed to work on the definition of the word - before the meetings in Beijing. I did not
fully realize at that time what all the fuss was about. But when I returned to my home in Utah and read one of the official magazines of the Conference, remembering all the emphasis on "family planning," the
following statement had greater meaning:
"In order to be effective in the long run, family planning programmes should not only focus on attempting to reduce fertility within existing gender roles, but rather on changing gender roles in order to reduce
fertility . . . ." (Women 2000, pg. 18)
Obviously, you cannot "change" a gender role if it only means male or female. I later came to understand that the main thrust of this sentence was a desire to get women to NOT want to be mothers. The most
effective birth control is creating an atmosphere where women will NOT WANT to be mothers. Over the past four years the definition of gender has evolved into one that is "socially constructed."
On the floor of the UN, the woman from Honduras said, "Are you willing to give up all the good that mothers have done?" She was a valiant representative for motherhood and families, but great pressure was put on her to get her to "back down." A representative of the US even told her that if she didn't stop that her country would not be able to receive any international aid in the future. She called her President, and he told her not to stop. But the pressure eventually got to her, and she was too ill to attend the Conference in Beijing.
After what I had witnessed, I felt the need to attend the Conference in Beijing. As a former President of Utah Association of Women, I received permission to raise funds through that organization. It was no small
miracle that we were even able to get accreditation to the Conference, as the application date was long passed. But another organization complained to the US Congress that the process had not been fair, so
they re-opened the application process for about two weeks, and we were able to become accredited to the Conference.
Two other women also traveled with me to Beijing. Mary Barton was the second delegate from UAW, and Gracia Jones was a reporter. I cannot put into a few words the ongoing saga of those three weeks, but it certainly opened my eyes. There were "wins" and "losses" on the wording of the document. We did get a few family words in the document, but a large portion of the document was devoted to "protecting" the "girl child" from her parents - with a focus on teaching her family planning methods from kindergarten through 12th grade. We made a major effort to get language into the document that recognized "parental rights and
responsibilities" but that was essentially defeated (even though we had 70 countries in support of the language).
Led by the US, there was a considerable effort to put "sexual orientation" and "abortion" language into the Human Rights section. This would have required countries who sign the document to change any laws on sexual orientation or abortion that did not recognize full human rights in these areas. But this was defeated, mostly by the strong positions taken by the Muslim countries (with our lobbying support).
As we headed back to the US, my head was swimming. What was happening here? Did this document really have any force of law? As soon as I got home I tried to get in touch with Richard Wilkins, a law professor at BYU who was the Vice President of United Families of Utah at the time. I finally went to the Utah Supreme Court, to hear Richard argue one of his cases before the Court, so I could catch a few minutes with him when the Court session was complete. He agreed to write a little article for a book we were producing, about the UN Conference, that would explain how UN documents could effect Domestic (national) law. He did write that article, and it became one of the chapters in our book "The Traditional Family in Peril."
Also, one week after we returned from Beijing, the Proclamation on the Family was read by President Gordon B. Hinckley at the General Womens Conference of the Church. The timing was so perfect (but then, God's timing always is). After working so hard for three weeks in Beijing to defend the family and motherhood, what a thrill it was to read the words of the Proclamation. I thought of the statement: "I teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves." Truly, this document set into motion the correct principles. Now, it was up to the people to promote these principles in the governments of the world.
This was the beginning of a very busy three years of activity on the international level. We learned much at the Beijing Conference about the importance of becoming involved early in the UN Conference process.
The next UN Conference was the Habitat Conference in Istanbul. This was to be the final conference in a series of seven conferences that would establish UN policy for the next century. The important thing was that the wording of each new conference was to supersede the wording of previous conferences. So, if we could get good wording in the Habitat document, it could undo some of the damage of the previous documents -particularly the document of the Fourth World Conference on Women.
Because this new conference was about our "Habitat" and the cities we live in, there were increased opportunities for participation if you represented a city. So I went to the City Council of South Jordan
(where I live), presented a copy of our book "The Traditional Family in Peril," and received permission to represent them at the Habitat Conference.
At the first Preparatory Meeting in New York City, with the green badge which showed that I represented a City (I was one of only five or six that came representing a city) I was allowed to sit at a table in the
middle of the semi-circle of delegates from the nations of the world.
Prior to this meeting, I met again with Richard Wilkins and he helped prepare amendments to the Habitat II Document that would promote the cause of families. As each person was allowed to introduce potential
amendments to the document, I was allowed to raise the name card for "Local Authorities" and offer my amendments. Needless to say, the "anti family" groups were very distressed.
By the time we arrived at the official Habitat II Conference in Istanbul, the feminists had encouraged the creation of a Second Committee that would allow them to offer "their side" of the issues before the Conference.
Luckily, Richard Wilkins had also agreed to attend the Habitat II Conference. Many of you have already read the story of his involvement, and the wonderful impact for good he initiated. And he now continues as
a leader, as delegates from many nations of the world look to him for guidance on legal implications of wording in international documents. With the establishment of NGO Family Voice at BYU, Richard and Kathryn Balmforth (a wonderful civil rights lawyer) are making a real difference in the world - representing the needs and concerns of families.
However, they need the backing of millions of people throughout the world, to be really effective. Through the Call to the Families of the World you have an opportunity to add your voice for the family. And, through the internet, the ability to get millions of people to sign up is VERY POSSIBLE. (www.worldcongress.org/newcall or www.law.byu.edu/NGO_Family_Voice)
I pray that you will each realize the importance of this work, and help make a difference - for the world your children will inherit.
Sincerely,
Susan Roylance This is a World Wide call for signatures to present to the World Congress of Families in November. Many of you have asked me what you can DO to stop the rapid destruction of the centuries old culture and religious principles most of us once believed. This is something you can do. You can stand up for your own family and the families around the world. Download the Call to the Families of the World, and collect signatures. At the very least, sign it online and send copies by e-mail to everyone you know.
To comment contact mmostert@originalsources.com. To contact Susan Roylance, address your letter to Susan and send to Original Sources at mmostert@originalsources.com.
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