Q&A Panel included Byron Pirola (Marriage Resource Centre), Kelli Houghton (United Families International), Dr. Ted Baehr (Movieguide) and Sharon Slater (Family Watch International)

Break Out Sessions: How various sectors impact marriage and family life.
Panel: UN Issues, globalization and human rights.

1st Speaker: Human Rights Agenda and the War on the Family, Sharon Slater USA  www.familywatchinternational.org

• Children have rights to protection i.e. food, shelter, water, clothing, safety. However, we are moving towards a “sexual rights revolution” where they believe that children have a right to fluid sexuality, to do whatever pleases them and they are defined as sexual beings. Also, there are about 7 different ways to identify with a gender. No longer two (male/female).

• The United Nations funds programs that promote sex education from International Planned Parenthood (IPPF) and Sex Education Committee (SECO). These groups comment that the biggest obstacle to sexual rights are 1) Religion and 2) Parents.

• The United Nations is not supposed to be interfering with each country in the world; instead, countries are supposed to decide policy for themselves. However, with sex ed, they are interfering. The wealthy countries of the world are blackmailing the poor countries into their ideas of sexual revolution (abortion, homosexual marriage and adoption). If these countries don’t comply and help promote these agendas, their aid and help is threatened to be pulled. The main offender? The USA.

• Documentary: Cultural Imperialism, The Human Rights Agenda http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INKAv4Y-lW4 (30 minutes)
• www.standforthefamily.org

State and UN Policies to Strengthen the Family: Farooq Hassan, Pakistan/USA, Distinguished scholar and legal mind

• There is a great deal of adversary at the United Nations. The UN is not as important as is your individual country. One side of the UN is family based, the other is non-family and antagonistic to the family. The enemy is not necessarily the UN, but the wicked countries that make up the UN. The UN only does what the countries want it to do. Two specific matters: Homosexual marriage and adoption.
• Who is the biggest culprit for leading the charge against the family? Sadly, the United States.
• Interestingly enough, the third world countries are the strongest voice in standing up to same gender marriage and adoption.
• What can we do? We need more young people to be educated in the law, public policy, international affairs, et. We need more professionals in the field and on our side!

Parental Rights: Sweden’s Failed Policies – Dr. Ruby Harrold-Claesson
**This was done via video due to the time constraints and travel to/from Sydney and Sweden. However, they have made her presentation available on Youtube and it will literally blow you away. {Editor’s note: I will link to it as soon as I get it!} The whole audience gasped at what Sweden is doing in their family policies and this particular story she shares is literally unbelievable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domenic_Johansson_custody_case

Bob McCoskrie, Director of Family First New Zealand: Government Policy to Strengthen Marriage and Family
In dealing with legislators and the general public, it’s not what you say necessarily but how you say it. The book “After the Ball” outlines the homosexual lobby’s strategy and end game. Very organized and they admittedly (and unfortunately) have done a brilliant job in pushing acceptance onto the public and the youth. How did they do this? They used the manipulation of verbal labels. For example:

• Instead of pro-abortion, pro-choice (made it sound better).
• Instead of homosexual, they use the word gay (they don’t like it when the word homosexual is used).
• Day care changed to “early education center”
• STD changed to “STI” Sexually transmitted infections (disease sounds so terrible)
• Pornography changed to adult entertainment
• Transvestite changed to transgender
• Gay marriage changed to “marriage equality” to make it sound like a positive thing.

How do we use this same strategy now? Turn the label around and make it sound negative. i.e. instead of the liberal term “right to die” use “assisted suicide”. Sounds much more negative.

Session on Promoting Family in the Media

Miranda Devine, Australian News Columnist and Writer (She was very articulate and gave a great presentation).

• Started by talking about the movie “The Sound of Music” Why was it the top grossing movie of all time? What made it so successful around the world? It is a story about the family unit, love, marriage, and the family triumphantly standing up to tyranny. A prime example of media that celebrates the family.
• The dominant mindset of the media is hostile to family values. The elites control the media … insiders vs. outsiders.
• People still hunger for virtue even if they aren’t sure how to achieve it. That’s why wholesome media pulls at the heartstrings. We can protest immorality and violence in movies, we can make a stand that WILL matter.
• We each have the power to change the culture. The trick is to influence the culture directly. Shape attitude.
• Lessons: 1) Individuals and small organizations must work together to make noise and an impact and 2) Action makes a difference.
• Human beings have an innate moral compass. The pendulum can swing back—we just need to give it a stronger push.

Karl Faase (Media and Radio Personality) – Promoting the Family on the Air

• TED Video – Alone Together 
• Media does a great job of isolating us and creating an inability to make meaningful relationships.
• We need to rebuild and reframe the marriage discussion. We’re sold on the idea of same sex marriage by the media. However, if we want to shift the values, we need to be kind and very well spoken.
• In any debate, you only hear the noisy extremists but there is a much larger middle ground we need to focus on. Yes, we need to acknowledge the noisy opposition, but we need to talk to the middle.
• Loud and extreme words and actions don’t make differences. If you attack someone’s position, you are more likely to reinforce it.
• We need to get more clever about how we communicate. Let’s remember that the middle group are desperate to hear us. We just need to find the best way to have them hear us.
• Don’t write blogs, news articles, media postings in caps, exclamation points, bold, etc. It’s not necessary or more effective. Just say it…don’t go into hysterics.

Michael Cook – Promoting the Family in Online Media
* Don’t be terribly despaired about society.
* The new media: Blogs, web, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are influencing public opinion on the internet. These things are the future. People are looking for diversity and different points of view on conventional news.

1. Some people think you can set up a blog and make it work. You have to post a lot! Recommend posting 3 new things per week. New things is key = News.
2. Everything you do must be done with professionalism. Good writing, conform to grammatical standards, keep it interesting and have flair, personal stories
3. Don’t allow your writing and commentary to border on hysteria or over reaction. It is much more effective if you write and present things with calm, concise words. Presentation is critical.
4. You have to be knowledgeable. You can’t just give your opinion. The writings must be fact based and original.
5. When setting up your site, remember that your website or blog is about creating a community. So when you’re writing, draw people together in a community of commentary that will attract them and keep them coming back.
6. Comments from readers are invaluable! Always have comments allowed on your posts. Don’t worry about the nasty ones. What will happen is your fans will come in and support you. The conversations between both sides are valuable for everyone in your blogging community.
7. Sometimes you may feel you are preaching to the converted. Remember, there is always a constant need to be converted. We all need support for our ideas.

Dr. Ted Baehr, The Movie Guide
New media, aka social media, can reach the next generation in a cheap way. There are 1 billion active Facebook users.

1. Understand your audience. For social media, the main audience is women ages 12-34. The 15 year old girl is the MOST effective for getting things to go viral.
2. Understand your medium. Google is a research tool, Facebook is an entertainment tool
3. Be real and authentic
4. Allow conversation to be real and raw
5. Humor or controversy are very effective
6. USE PICTURES. People are very visual. Also, 90 second video clips are usually the most people are willing to watch.