Brian Brown, president of the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM), has been elected president of the
World Congress of Families (WCF).
According to Right
Wing Watch, Brown has worked with the group since at least 2013,
when he spoke in favor of anti-LGBT laws at the group's invitation
before the Russian parliament.
The World Congress of Families in 2014
called on more nations to follow Russia's lead in adopting laws that
prohibit “gay propaganda” to minors.
In 2008, NOM won a major victory in
California with passage of Proposition 8, the state's now-defunct
constitutional amendment that defined marriage as a heterosexual
union. The group replicated its success in several states, but began
to stall out by the early 2010s as support for marriage equality in
the United States increased. In the wake of the Supreme Court's
finding last year that gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional
right to marry, NOM's mission shifted from excluding gay couples from
marriage to undermining the high court's ruling, though it continues
to advocate for a constitutional amendment which would supersede the
court's decision.
“I am honored that the Board of the
World Congress of Families has elected me to serve as its president,
and I look forward to continuing to work to advance the pro-family
movement in the US and around the world,” Brown said in a NOM press
release. “Preserving and promoting the natural family as the core
institution of society is an essential task if we are to build
strong, stable, healthy communities.”
“In recent years, secular leaders
around the world have become obsessed with advancing so-called
'alternative' family structures. But there is no family structure
more valuable and important to children and civilization as a whole
than that of a married father and mother raising the children born of
their union in an intact and loving family,” Brown added. “I
look forward to contributing to WCF's work to develop and advance
pro-family policies around the world.”