From J. Lester Feder at Buzzfeed:
An Australian cabinet minister, a British lawyer, and a Venezuelan activist are among those who will be honored later this year by the World Congress of Families (WCF), the U.S.-based global organization that opposes LGBT and abortion rights.
Australian Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews will be named 2014’s “Natural Family Man” by the organization… Andrews will be receiving the award alongside British activist [Andrea] Minichiello Williams of Christian Concern, who will receive an award for organizational development. Williams recently sparked controversy for urging anti-LGBT activists to argue that homosexuality is connected to pedophilia during a visit to Jamaica in December.
It was Feder who first reported Williams’ alleged comments in Jamaica; most of the media, however, chose instead to focus on another of her statements, which was that the swimmer Tom Daley had entered into a gay relationship because his father had died. Like some others, I was surprised that Williams had made comments of such virulence, but despite some subsequent controversy Christian Concern never claimed it had been misrepresented.
Andrews, meanwhile, is a long-time activist with the Australian Religious Right, associated with the Australian Family Association and a co-founder of the now-defunct “Lyons Forum“.
Other activists receiving awards include Christine Vollmer, of the Latin American Alliance for the Family, and Theresa Okafor, the WCF’s African representative; Right Wing Watch reminds us that Okafor has suggested that gay Nigerians may have entered into a conspiracy with Boko Haram to persecute Christians. A piece on Christian Newswire has more details of prize-winners.
WCF is controversial not just for its anti-gay views; the organisation also has significant links with Russia. In particular, the WCF’s leadership work closely with Vladimir Yakunin, a member of Putin’s inner circle who is currently under sanction. The WCF says that it “takes no position on foreign affairs, except as they affect the natural family”, although the group’s spokesman, Don Feder (presumably no relation to the Buzzfeed journalist) wrote a piece in March for the American Thinker with the title “Putin Doesn’t Threaten Our National Security, Obama Does”. This prompted Cliff Kincaid to issue a rebuke, that conservatives “do not have to ignore, excuse, or rationalize Russian aggression in Ukraine”.
Footnote: Unfortunately, J. Lester Feder misnames Andrea Minichiello Williams as “Michelle Minichiello Williams”
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