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Progressive Atheists view our protest against the World Congress of Families as a success on so many fronts – read more
*WARNING* There is content and linked articles on this page that contain material that is offensive and contrary to the values and purposes of Progressive Atheists.
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RESISTING CULTURE WARRIORS DOWN UNDER: HOW AUSTRALIAN ACTIVISTS FOUGHT BACK AGAINST THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES
By Cole Parke, on September 4, 2014
According to one of the activists who successfully infiltrated last weekend’s World Congress of Families (WCF) event in Melbourne, Australia, Larry Jacobs—vice president of the U.S.-based Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society and managing director of the WCF—said that what’s going on in Russia and Uganda is “very exciting.”
He’s referring, of course, to the Anti-Propaganda Law in Russia and the Anti-Homosexuality Act (formerly known as the “Kill the Gays Bill”) in Uganda, as well as—no doubt—the equally regressive measures taken against sexual and reproductive health & rights (SRHR) in both countries.
Kevin Andrews asks World Congress of Families to stop using his name
Melissa Davey | theguardian.com, Tuesday 2 September 2014
The social services minister says he was named as ‘international secretary’ in error and he asked for the reference to be removed
Social services minister Kevin Andrews has asked organisers of the World Congress of Families conservative Christian conference to remove a reference to him as “international secretary” from their promotional material.
Andrews last week pulled out of delivering the opening address at the World Congress of Families after hearing that the rightwing Christian group Catch the Fire would host it.
Backchat with Heidi Pett and Luke Marshall
Original Air Date: 2014-08-30
Simon Hunt (AKA Pauline Pantsdown) interviewed 24.54 – 36.05.
Listen to Podcast
World Congress of Families
Channel 10 Air Date Sat 30 Aug 2014
‘Poverty 90% solved’ by traditional marriage, speaker tells World Congress of Families
August 31, 2014 | Farrah Tomazin
Ninety per cent of poverty could be solved through the affirmation of marriage between a man and woman, a contentious conference in Melbourne has heard.
A day after state and federal Liberal MPs pulled out of the World Congress of Families in the face of a political backlash, US campaigner Larry Jacobs added to the controversy surrounding the event by claiming poverty could be reduced if only children were raised in traditional families.
Angela Lanfranchi, who links abortion and cancer, stars at families congress
Melissa Davey in Melbourne | theguardian.com, Saturday 30 August 2014
Breast cancer doctor is one of the biggest names left after several politicians pull out of World Congress of Families
The conservative World Congress of Families promoted the controversial American breast cancer doctor Angela Lanfranchi as its star conference speaker on Saturday, after several politicians who were scheduled to appear pulled out.
Lanfranchi is an anti-abortion advocate who continues to push the discredited idea of a link between abortion and breast cancer.
Hundreds of the world’s leading doctors, scientists and researchers who reviewed all the studies on the relationship between pregnancy and breast cancer have found abortions and miscarriages do not increase a woman’s breast cancer risk.
Pro-family attendees heckled at Victoria event
30 AUG 2014 | SBS
Protesters have heckled attendees of a controversial World Congress of Families conference in Melbourne with calls of shame, after two prominent politicians pulled out at the last minute.
Why we disrupted the World Congress of Families
Saturday, August 30, 2014 | By Karen Fletcher
A protester chained herself to the kitchen sink, August 30. Photo: Karen Fletcher.
After four venues cancelled bookings under pressure from protesters, the World Congress of Families announced a fifth venue for its conference in Victoria — the headquarters of notorious anti-Muslim hate group Catch the Fire Ministries.
A coalition of groups opposing the WCF called a media conference on August 28 to explain why they were determined to stop the right-wing fundamentalist Christian conference from going ahead in Melbourne on August 30.
Lawrence Krauss speaks out against homophobic, sexist anti-science bigots in Melbourne, Australia
Posted 30 August 2014 | LeftAndCorrect
Protester storms stage at controversial World Congress of Families conference
August 30, 2014 | Farrah Tomazin
A pro-choice protester has breached security and stormed the stage at a controversial “pro-families” conference in Melbourne on Saturday, a day after state and federal Liberal MPs pulled out of the event in the face of a political backlash.
Despite a large police presence at the World Congress of Families in Hallam, the woman was able to enter the venue as a registered guest, rushing on to the stage where she positioned herself in front of NSW MP Reverend Fred Nile and other guests, spilling fake blood on her white outfit.
Protesters block entry as World Congress of Families starts in chaos
Melissa Davey | theguardian.com, Saturday 30 August 2014
Speakers and attendees held up on their way in to the Catch the Fire evangelical ministries venue in suburban Melbourne
About 100 protesters blocked the entrance to the Catch the Fire evangelical ministries in the Melbourne suburb of Hallam on Saturday morning, where the controversial World Congress of Families conference was scheduled to begin.
Many speakers, including the American campaigner Angela Lanfranchi, who planned to speak on the thoroughly debunked link between breast cancer and abortion, were unable to get through the gates in their cars. Their path was blocked by protesters holding signs with slogans such as “Our bodies are our property” and “Women are not incubators”.
ECONONIC VALUE OF MARRIAGE, FAMILY AND RELATIONSHIP BREAKDOWN
Posted 29 August 2014 | Kevin Andrews
Thank you for this opportunity to speak about marriage and family.
Considerable social science data supports the value of healthy stable marriages for
individuals. Summarising the mountains of research, Professor William Doherty concluded:
For adults, a stable, happy marriage is the best protector against illness and
premature death, and for children, such a marriage is the best source of emotional
stability and good physical health.
Few areas of social science have shown such clear, consistent findings over four decades of research.
Kevin Andrews cancels plan to open World Congress of Families conference
THE AUSTRALIAN AUGUST 29, 2014 | Patricia Karvelas
MINISTER for Social Services Kevin Andrews has cancelled his plans to open the World Congress of Families, which is dedicated to fighting the decriminalisation of abortion and homosexuality in Melbourne this weekend because it will now be hosted by the ultra right wing group Catch the Fire.
Mr Andrews has been under unprecedented and sustained pressure to pull out but attacked the “intolerance” of the “Greens and the left” for trying to shut the forum down as he confirmed he would not attend.
We need to say once and for all: homophobia and sexism are not the Australian way
Senator Larissa Waters | Thursday 28 August 2014
One of the best things about being a politician is being able to throw your support behind worthy causes.
It really disappoints me that some politicians would abuse that privilege to support harmful, prejudiced ideas instead.
It’s unacceptable for the Abbott government’s Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews to be opening the World Congress of Families (WCF) conference in Melbourne on Saturday.
Read more
Abortions don’t cause cancer any more than parties do
28 August 2014 | Louise Keogh
The purported link between abortion and breast cancer is based on research that’s no longer accepted as valid because its methods are so flawed. But that hasn’t stopped politicians such as Fred Nile and groups such as the World Congress of Families, a global conservative Christian group that claims to be a defender of the so-called “natural family”, from repeating it.
More attacks on the World Congress of Families – Protest planned
28 August 2014 | Saltshakers
Homosexual – and other – activists are continuing to campaign against the World Congress of Families (WCF), as well as the WCF ‘regional event’ to be held in Melbourne on Saturday.
So much for free speech…
More attacks on the World Congress of Families planned – Article no longer available
World Congress of Families: protesters vow to shut down conference
Gay Alcorn | theguardian.com, Thursday 28 August 2014
Group says thousands will blockade ‘hate’ event that is set to be opened by social services minister Kevin Andrews
Protesters against Saturday’s World Congress of Families conference in Melbourne have said thousands of people will try to shut down the meeting, blockading the entrance and attempting to prevent people from attending.
A group calling itself the Coalition to Beat Back the Far Right said the congress, which advocates for the “natural family” of a married man and woman, was not just a meeting of “conservative nutters” but sought to influence government policy.
Protesters vow to block World Congress of Families attendees
August 28, 2014 | Richard Willingham
Opponents of the hard-right World Congress of Families have vowed to block attendees from getting into its conference on Saturday, although they do not know where it will be held.
The controversial forum features speakers who say abortion causes breast cancer, as well as homophobic speakers. Senior Liberals including Abbott Families Minister Kevin Andrews and Victorian Attorney-General Robert Clark are to attend.
The Coalition to Beat Back the Far-Right says it has already scored victories, with at least three cancelled venues for the forum.
Boycott Of World Congress Of Families Heads For Senate Vote
Posted on Aug. 27, 2014 | Mark Di Stefano
Australian Senator to introduce motion demanding politicians stay clear of WCF.
Federal Senator Larissa Waters will bring the issue of the World Congress of Families to the Australian Senate after drafting a motion to boycott the pro-life, anti-gay marriage group’s Melbourne conference.
“The World Congress of Families is full of homophobic, sexist and anti-choice prejudices and it’s unacceptable for members of parliament to be attending,” Queensland Greens Senator Waters told BuzzFeed.
Kevin Andrews books out parliament room for anti-gay marriage conference
Helen Davidson | theguardian.com, Wednesday 27 August 2014
Social services minister won’t attend ‘strengthening the family’ conference which has links to controversial Christian group
Social services minister Kevin Andrews has booked out the main committee room of parliament house on behalf of an anti-gay marriage organisation which is linked to the controversial World Congress of Families.
The Australian Families Association (AFA) is commemorating the tenth anniversary of the redefining of marriage as “between a man and a woman” in the 2004 amendment of the Marriage Act with a conference on “strengthening the family”.
World Congress of Families conference in chaos as venues decline to host
Melissa Davey | theguardian.com, Tuesday 26 August 2014
Days before its start, a controversial Christian conference in Melbourne is homeless amid security issues.
The controversial World Congress of Families conservative Christian conference is in chaos only days before its scheduled start, after four Melbourne venues backed out of hosting the event.
High profile speakers have agreed to speak at the congress on Saturday, including the anti-abortion campaigner and Victorian upper house Liberal member Bernie Finn, and the federal government social services minister, Kevin Andrews.
Why Are ‘Sexual Radicals’ Accusing Poor Matt Barber, Rick Scarborough And Daniel Lapin of Being Anti-Gay?
SUBMITTED BY Miranda Blue on Monday, 8/25/2014 3:23 pm
In the latest installment of the right-wing victimhood saga, the Illinois-based World Congress of Families has released an open letter accusing “sexual radicals” of launching a “smear campaign” against them in advance of a planned conference in Melbourne later this week.
“Sexual radicals have launched a smear campaign to discredit the Melbourne conference, which misrepresents the international pro-family movement and the positions of the World Congress of Families,” the letter says. “Specifically, it is alleged that advocacy of the natural (or normative) family is somehow unfair to other families and that we ‘shame’ single-parent families, homosexual ‘couples’ and the divorced.” (Scare quotes in the original.)
“The goal of sexual radicals is to deconstruct marriage and marginalize the family, and thus to transform society into something unrecognizable to generations past,” the letter continues. “Like all social experiments that attempt to create a ‘new man,’ these are doomed to failure.”
Mike Huckabee Pleads With Australia To Stop Canceling Anti-Gay Hate Group Conference Venues
by DAVID BADASH | August 25, 2014
Mike Huckabee joins 79 other religious leaders in pleading with Australia to stop canceling venues for the international conference of a U.S. based anti-gay hate group’s conference, slated to start Saturday.
World Congress Of Families: the Forgotten Firebrand
August 15, 2014
Even News Ltd has now noticed that the upcoming World Congress of Families (International Ambassador: Kevin Andrews) is stuffed with loonies. What’s more, it’s even written about it in faintly critical terms under the headline World Congress of Families conference firebrand figures.
But they missed one particularly unpleasant individual – ‘His Eminence Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, who ordered priests to withhold communion from politicians who support abortion and told Catholics not to vote for them.
Good Christian morality is better than bad science
Matthew Beard | 11 August 2014
Even before the controversies surrounding Eric Abetz’s remarks on Channel Ten’s The Project, the World Congress of Families was under fire for its endorsement of Angela Lanfranchi’s research linking abortion to breast cancer.
Dr Lanfranchi was accused by feminist writer Van Badham of ‘peddling… information out of a concern for women’s health, while playing down their theological or political agenda.’
My cancer patients don’t need bad science and self-blame, Mr Abetz
Ranjana Srivastava | theguardian.com, Monday 11 August 2014
As an oncologist, I feel frustrated on behalf of patients who harbour the fear that they somehow brought the cancer upon themselves by having an abortion
The incautious words of the Australian senator Eric Abetz linking abortion to breast cancer on a television show were still being digested when the calls began.
“Can I ask you something personal?” a patient asks.
“What’s the matter?”
“Do you think you could talk to my mother-in-law? She can’t stop hinting that my breast cancer is related to my previous abortion – it’s making me upset and worried that she now won’t help.”
Napthine faces a delicate balancing act over same-sex equality
August 10, 2014 | Farrah Tomazin
The political execution of Aaron Lane was sharp and swift. No sooner had the state Liberal candidate been exposed for a series of homophobic tweets made before he was preselected this year, Denis Napthine effectively sealed his fate.
“There is no place on my team or in the Coalition team for this sort of behaviour and these sort of comments,” the Premier told reporters after the posts surfaced, laden with references to ‘‘faggots’’, masturbation, and Labor stalwart Simon Crean as a ‘‘Giant C’’. “Mr Lane needs to step aside from his position.”
Remorseful and embarrassed, that’s exactly what he did.
Eric Abetz under fire for backing false claims linking abortion to breast cancer
Daniel Hurst | theguardian.com, Friday 8 August 2014
AMA president says it is inappropriate for a minister to cite ‘pseudoscience’ put out by a group pushing its ideology
A senior government minister, Eric Abetz, has faced criticism from the Australian Medical Association and the Breast Cancer Network of Australia for giving credence to a debunked link between abortion and breast cancer.
The employment minister, who is also the government’s leader in the Senate, said during a television interview: “I think the studies, and I think they date back from the 1950s, assert that there is a link between abortion and breast cancer.”
Abetz was defending his support for the upcoming World Congress of Families event in Melbourne where the speakers will include an American anti-abortion campaigner and doctor, Angela Lanfranchi, who also opposes use of the contraceptive pill.
Senator Eric Abetz denies suggesting link between abortions and breast cancer
By Karen Barlow | ABC News | 8 August 2014
Cabinet minister Eric Abetz has denied drawing a credible link between abortions and breast cancer, but he says the proponent of the theory is qualified and has a right to express her views.
The leader of the Government in the Senate has been criticised after speaking of the link on Channel Ten program The Project last night while discussing his involvement with the World Congress of Families event being held in Melbourne this month.
While appearing on the program, Senator Abetz was asked by panellist Mia Freedman whether he agrees with controversial American surgeon and Congress speaker, Dr Angela Lanfranchi, who promotes the theory that abortion can lead to breast cancer.
Eric Abetz
The Project | Air Date Thurs 7 Aug 2014 Duration – 07:25
The story the Mamamia Team have been working on. And now we need your help.
By MAMAMIA TEAM | Monday, 4 August 2014
Put 30th August in your diary.
That’s the day a “pro-family” group promoting bigotry and intolerance will touch down in Melbourne for a conference.
Senior members of state and federal government will be taking part as guest speakers and delegates.
Does that worry you? It should.
When you participate in a conference as a politician, you are giving that conference (and its organisers) credibility and tacit approval. You are endorsing their values and their views.
By The Company They Keep
July 26, 2014 | the stirrer
The Victorian Attorney General and our Federal Minister for Social Services will shortly be cosying up to – and in Kevin Andrews case even representing – an organisation backed by a Russian oligarch, French fascists and virulently anti-gay US fundamentalists.You can tell a lot about people by the company they keep.
The World Congress of Families is coming to Melbourne for a regional conference entitled Life, Family & Freedom, 9.00 am to 5.30 pm, Saturday 30th August 2014, St. Cecilia’s Hall, cnr Van Ness Ave. & Hillside Pde, Glen Iris, Vic. 3146
They’ll be welcomed by Victorian State Attorney General Robert Clark.
The opening address will be given by one of their local leading lights, a WCF International Ambassador, no less, federal Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews.
Ministers to join pro-lifer who believes the ‘pill kills’ at World Congress of Families
July 25, 2014 | Heath Aston
Women who take the pill choose partners who share a similar genetic profile causing them to lose interest in sex and become more likely to be the victim of violent assault and murder.
It is just one of the unconventional theories of Dr Angela Lanfranchi, an American pro-life campaigner who also pushes the debunked link between abortion and breast cancer.
Dr Lanfranchi is set to speak at next month’s “World Congress of Families” event in Melbourne where she will share the stage with federal Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews, and a number of Victorian Liberals, including state Attorney-General Robert Clark and anti-abortion campaigner and Victorian upper house MP Bernie Finn.
VICTORIAN GAY RIGHTS LOBBY CRITICAL OF GOVERNMENT’S WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES INVOLVEMENT
Benjamin Riley — JULY 18, 2014
NEWS of two Victorian Government officials addressing a conference organised by a hard-right, anti-gay group in Melbourne next month have been met with criticism from the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby.
Earlier this week, Premier Denis Napthine said Attorney-General Robert Clark and Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews (both pictured above) addressing the conference in late August was consistent with the state government’s tourism agenda to attract people to Melbourne.
The two senior Victorian Coalition MPs are part of a line-up for the World Congress of Families conference, a group that has backed Russian president Vladimir Putin’s so-called “gay propaganda” laws. The conference will also feature upper house Liberal MP Bernie Finn, NSW upper house Christian Democrats MP Fred Nile and Liberal Senators Cory Bernardi and Eric Abetz.
Attorney-General Robert Clark defends upcoming address to Melbourne anti-abortion conference
Wed 16 Jul 2014 | ABC News
Robert Clark will give a welcome address at the World Congress of Families in Melbourne.
Victorian Attorney-General Robert Clark will not say if he endorses the views to be presented at a conference in Melbourne run by an anti-abortion group from the United States.
Mr Clark will deliver the welcoming address to the World Congress of Families, which will be held by an American group that opposes abortion and the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
Federal Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews is also due to speak at the event.
Mr Clark said it was one of several conferences he would attend this year to represent the Government.
State Attorney-General Robert Clark to address hardline pro-life event
July 15, 2014 | Josh Gordon, Heath Aston
State Attorney-General Robert Clark is set to address a hardline pro-life event in Melbourne organised by a controversial US-based group dedicated to preventing abortion and the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
Less than three months before the November 29 state election, Mr Clark will deliver a “welcome to Victoria” speech to the World Congress of Families – an event which also features an American doctor promoting a discredited link between abortion and breast cancer, a promoter of Russia’s “crusade” against homosexuality, and representatives from the hard-right Rise Up Australia Party.
The conference, which will take place late next month, will be opened and closed by federal Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews, who, according to the flyer for the event, is an international ambassador for the congress.
Is Abortion Linked to Breast Cancer?
American Cancer Society | 06/19/2014
Abortion is an issue that can bring out strong feelings in people. These feelings are often linked to personal, religious, and political views that may have little to do with any connection to a disease like cancer.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women (aside from skin cancer), and it’s the second leading cancer killer in women. Because it can be a deadly disease, it’s one that many women fear.
Linking these topics creates a great deal of emotion and debate. But scientific research studies have not found a cause-and-effect relationship between abortion and breast cancer.
Redefining heroism
Babette Francis | 31 May 2013
Which calls for more courage: coming out of the closet, or dealing with the mess that’s left behind?
Presidents usually do not have the time to congratulate or commiserate with every citizen in the headlines, whether for an act of heroism, an academic achievement or a personal tragedy. Their phone calls are reserved for exceptional situations as for the widow of a soldier killed while trying to save the lives of others.
But under the Obama administration heroism is evolving.
One of Obama’s heroines is Sandra Fluke. She is a law student who lobbied for Georgetown University to be compelled to offer health care that covers contraceptive drugs, in spite of the Catholic university’s moral opposition to artificial birth control. She claimed that during her time as a law student, birth control could cost her more than US$3,000 per year.
Another ABC controversy
By Babette Francis – posted Monday, 9 December 2013
No, this is not about the Australian Broadcasting Corporation though possibly it will figure in the discussion at some stage because the ABC’s views on controversial issues such as abortion are biased: commitment to pro-choice policies and no ABC staffer keen to present a pro-life perspective. However the ABC in the title of this Opinion piece relates to another controversy, the increased risk of breast cancer caused by induced abortion – this is known as the Abortion Breast Cancer (ABC) link.
A stunning new meta-analysis on the ABC link has just been published in a peer-reviewed cancer journal. Described as “Chinese Abortion-Breast Cancer bombshell” the meta-analysis of 36 Chinese studies from 14 provinces in China shows abortion increases breast cancer risk by 44%. This meta-analysis is particularly relevant to abortion legislation in Victoria where doctors are coerced, against their better scientific judgement, to refer women for abortions.
A tale of two conservatisms
By Babette Francis – posted Wednesday, 20 November 2013
There is a marked contrast between the Abbott government which is acting speedily to eliminate layers of bureaucracy, and the Labor Opposition which has shorten-changed its supporters (I couldn’t resist that one) by focusing on the stale policy of the carbon tax. However, both Government and Opposition appear to have missed a central plank of sound policy, i.e. unless there is a synthesis of economic policies with moral values, even the most astute economic strategies will fail.
The Coalition government is more guilty in this regard. Although I don’t agree with Labor priorities, at least the Opposition articulates the moral issues which underpin its policies: concern for the environment and for disadvantaged groups. However, Tony Abbott appears to be still so spooked by Julia Gillard’s completely false accusations of misogyny that along with his mantra of “stop the carbon tax” and “stop the boats”, he does not articulate what he should also be saying: “stop abortions” and “stop family breakdown”.
The myth of gender interchangeability
By Babette Francis – posted Friday, 5 April 2013
Few policies illustrate better the feminist myth that men and women are interchangeable than the feminist push to have women employed in front-line combat roles in war.
A text I studied for my Senior Cambridge in India (equivalent to the VCE) was Shakespeare’s Henry V. We memorised King Henry’s speech before the battle of Harfleur where he, Exeter, Bedford, Gloucester and soldiers were scaling walls:
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead….
Jobs for the girls
By Babette Francis – posted Monday, 11 February 2013
While many writers of “letters to the editor” have had a field day commenting on the First De Facto, Tim Mathieson’s recommendation that small, female, Asian doctors are the appropriate professionals to conduct prostate cancer examinations, being small, female and Asian myself (although not a doctor) I applaud his efforts to provide “affirmative action” for this disadvantaged minority to which I belong. He should also ensure that supermarket shelves be lowered so we can reach all the stuff we want, and that ingredients for Indian curries, Indonesian nasi goreng and Thai satays be displayed prominently.
However, how Tim’s recommendation would fit in with erstwhile Attorney General Nicola Roxon’s draft anti-discrimination Bill is another issue. But Roxon has form.
Affirmative action is sexism and misandry
By Babette Francis – posted Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Affirmative action on behalf of women is a form of misandry. I know this comment will provoke shrieks of outrage from the sisterhood, and I am not sure what the current definition of misandry is in the Macquarie Dictionary. However, although Wikipedia defines misandry as the hatred or dislike of men or boys, I am confident the Macquarie Dictionary can define it down as “indifference to the plight of men and boys”, which is the sense in which I am using the word.
I am increasingly irritated by pompous statements from some of Australia’s top chief executives as headlined in The Australian (Business 28/11/12) “Call for targets to get women to the top”. These executives include Grant O’Brien from Woolworths, Qantas boss Alan Joyce, Telstra’s David Thodey and ANZ’s Mike Smith, who have all called for more companies to set targets for promoting women into leadership positions.
The deadly silence
By Babette Francis – posted Monday, 29 October 2012
October has been the National Breast Cancer Awareness month in the U.S. Since 1985, major breast cancer charities run events to increase awareness of the disease and to raise funds for research into its causes, diagnosis, early detection, treatment and cure. The campaign also offers information and support to those affected by breast cancer.
In Australia Breast Cancer Awareness month is marked by the color pink. The National Breast Cancer Foundation raises money from the sale of pink ribbons, and many organisations, including football clubs arrange functions with everyone wearing pink t-shirts. These activities are to be commended for raising money to fight a disease which is the major killer of pre-menopausal woman (other than accidents) and the third major cause of death for post-menopausal women. One in nine women in Australia will suffer from breast cancer.
The real misogyny
By Babette Francis – posted Tuesday, 16 October 2012
“Misogyny” is defined as a ‘hatred of women’. Although Julia Gillard accuses Tony Abbott of misogyny, it is a false accusation as he obviously loves his mother, wife, daughters and sister and is loved by them. Furthermore he has a female Chief of Staff who has been described as one of the most influential women in Australia, he also has a female Deputy Leader of the Opposition with whom he works effectively and who has defended him against the Gillard gibes, so clearly he does not have a problem with “powerful women”.
It is interesting that when other Labor Ministers, female and male, were categorically asked by media interviewers: “Is Tony Abbott guilty of misogyny, are you saying he hates women?”, their replies fudged around the edges and the gist was “well he does have a problem with women”, followed by references to Alan Jones indefensible comments about Gillard’s father, and finally “let’s move on, we can’t have a kangaroo court on the Peter Slipper issue”. None appeared willing to say on TV “Tony Abbott hates women” because such a statement would be patently false.
Bullying American business over gay marriage views
By Babette Francis – posted Monday, 13 August 2012
There has been much discussion in the media about bullying in schools, in the workplace and on social media via emails and Twitter. Well guess who is doing much of the bullying – it is not only the maladjusted schoolboy who has grown too big for his boots or the immature schoolgirl venting her insecurities on Facebook – it is homosexual lobbyists, left-wing politicians who aim to restrict freedom of the press, and anti-religious civil libertarians
The most recent target of the homosexual lobbyists was the U.S.-based Chick-fil-A chain of restaurants because this company has donated money to organisations that oppose same-sex marriage. Founded by Georgian entrepreneur Truett Cathy in 1946, the family-owned chicken-sandwich chain employs some 50,000 workers across the country at 1,500 outlets in nearly 40 states, and serves millions of happy customers with typical Southern hospitality.
A woman’s best friend
By Babette Francis – posted Wednesday, 18 July 2012
On 12 July 2012 The Drum Opinion (ABC online) published an article by Jane Gleeson-White titled “My womb is not terra nullius”. Jane is an author with degrees in literature and economics. In her article Jane lauded the actions of a woman known as “Anonymous” who took photos of her own abortion and published them on the internet to show the world how safe and easy it was. Jane also praised Caitlin Moran, British broadcaster, who had an abortion after having two daughters and who claimed she had no regrets.
This was my rejoinder to these feminist outpourings, which I titled “A Woman’s Best Friend”:
To be or not to be – that is the question
By Babette Francis – posted Monday, 13 February 2012
Graham Young provides an invaluable social monitor of how we feel and live in Australia in the 21st century, so I hope someone is placing all the contributions to his On Line Opinion in a safe time-capsule which will be preserved for future historians in case Brisbane, from where On Line Opinion emerges, is completely submerged by the Pacific Ocean or the over-flowing Wivenhoe Dam
His latest project is surveying Australia’s diaspora, that 5% of Australians who live and work abroad. I don’t fit into that category, rather the reverse, being among the 25% of Australian residents who were born overseas. Having been born in India and having lived in Australia for over 50 years, I want to play tribute to this country because I have been happy here, and apart from the death of my husband two years ago – which was devastating and still is – I have not experienced any other major trauma
Gender bending: let me count the ways
Babette Francis | 22 March 2011
Few countries can be taking gender inclusiveness more seriously than Australia.
In the beginning there was male and female. Soon there was homosexuality. Later there were lesbians, and much later gays, bisexuals, transgenders and queers. But anyone who thinks LGBTQ is the full count of contemporary sexualities is sadly out of date. For example, the transgendered have for some time been divided into those who are awaiting treatment, those have had hormone treatment, those who have had hormones and surgery, and those who have had hormones and surgery but are not happy and want it all reversed.
Condoms will not stem the tide of HIV infections – life changes are needed
By Babette Francis – posted Friday, 23 January 2004
Sarah Henderson’s faltering faith (Herald Sun, January 14, 2004) distorts Catholicism, but her belief that “condoms fight HIV” is also bad science. Why does Sarah indulge in ageism – aren’t the opinions of an 83-year-old pope who fought Nazism and played a major role in the defeat of the Soviet Union, worth as much as those of a middle-aged (sorry, Sarah!) Melbourne company director? John Paul II is physically frail but his mind is clear, and one wonders why those who resent his views do not join a denomination which would give them all they want – abortion, contraception, extra-marital sex, condoms and homosexual clergy, e.g. the Uniting Church. Sarah, Monica, Peg et al could even start a church of their own – a church with a condom-shaped steeple for instance.
Well at least The End of Equality acknowledges the failures of feminism
By Babette Francis – posted Monday, 5 January 2004
The sisterhood is in strife – well, actually they are not my sisters, but feminists tend to conflate all women into one movement as if we were all of uniform mind and ambition.
Anne Summers’ new book The End of Equality (Random House) would have been better titled The Failure of Feminism because realist women have never thought of ourselves as “unequal”.
Summers defines equality by the narrow criteria of income and corporate power, and does not acknowledge other kinds of achievements or their value – such as raising happy children and maintaining a life-long relationship.
Nattering Nabobs in Nairobi: The UN’s Conference on Women
BABETTE FRANCIS | MARCH 1, 1986
The UN Decade for Women World Conference and the Non-government Organizations Forum held concurrently in Nairobi, Kenya in July, 1985, constituted a lost opportunity for the Western democracies and for Christians in particular. These meetings could have been a showcase for democracy and religious freedom, and for the promotion of pro-life, pro-family policies. Instead, what resulted was the adoption of a radical feminist agenda.
At a Washington seminar sponsored by the Shavano Institute for National Leadership, Tom Wolfe asked the question: “Are the U.S. and the USSR Morally Equivalent?” That question was answered with an overwhelming “No” at Nairobi, The U.S. was Public Enemy No. 1; as for the USSR, with the exception of a few pro-lifers, some protesting Ukrainians, and a dissident Soviet Jew newly emigrated to Israel, the consensus seemed to be that the USSR is, at worst, morally neutral.
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