Dear friends and supporters of United Families International,
As 2022 ends, it can best be said that it’s been “quite a year”. On the pro-family front, it truly has felt like a roller coaster with so many ups and downs. As you read these, I hope you’ll get a sense that the team at UFI has never been more engaged, more creative, and more in need of your support and involvement to help us stay in this battle.
Let’s begin with a few of the “ups”:
- Dobbs v. Jackson. June 26th sent shock waves, literally around the world, as the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade – returning to the states the ability to decide their own abortion laws. The celebration was well-earned, but quickly turned to a focus on getting good legislation passed at the state level – or protecting pro-life laws that were already in existence. We all recognize the work has just begun and we have a tremendous responsibility to foster a culture of life, going forward, and to make abortion “unthinkable.”
- Another 10 states passed Protect Women Sports Bills. The total is now 18 states that protect the safety, privacy, and opportunity rights of women and girls as they participate in sports. UFI has been actively engaged in this effort, doing research and analysis for legislators who were championing these bills and helping to drive public support.
- Pushed back hard against the new Title IX “rules.” UFI was part of a broader coalition that was able to generate a record-breaking number of opposition “comments” being sent to the Department of Education.
- The UN returns to a somewhat normal schedule. COVID forced the closure of UN facilities (back in March of 2020) and the work of the UN then turned mostly virtual – including negotiations. UFI had to learn a whole new system of interacting with and assisting diplomats in their efforts to protect and defend the family. Beginning in September, the UN reopened the door to non-governmental organizations and UFI continued to successfully work to influence UN resolutions coming out of the UN General Assembly.
- Impacted outcome document negotiations at the various UN Commissions. Despite COVID restrictions, UFI continued to assist UN delegates in the negotiation process by providing language “grids” to simplify the process for overworked diplomats. We’ve attached part of a grid from one of the shorter resolutions – to give you an idea of some of the things we do to aid like-minded UN missions.
- Participated in a UN panel at the World Congress of Families (WCF) in Mexico City. Over 10,000 people participated in the three-day conference in Mexico City. UFI had representatives there to participate in a UN panel as part of the plenary program of the WCF. You can go here to see view some of the presentations and events of the WCF.
Now for the things that continue to be a challenge:
- Accelerated efforts to place anti-family language in UN documents. With the current U.S. Administration squarely in the camp of a broad array of anti-family forces at the UN, efforts to keep anti-family language out of UN – and to load influential UN documents with SRHR (Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights), Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) – have become perilous.
- Anti-family forces are slowly gaining ground within the UN system. Bit by bit, phrase by phrase, progressive ideology is seeping into the UN documents. UFI continues to aggressively oppose the language, but it continues to morph and efforts to educate new delegates who are unaware of the agenda become increasingly difficult. But this has been the “David vs. Goliath” battle for decades – and we don’t quit! As a matter of fact, we have big plans for expanding our reach in 2023.
- The push to keep the “gender agenda” out of schools continues. Although there have been significant “wins,” in terms of passing policies and legislation to protect our children and their schools, the onslaught continues. We see no end in sight. It will require all of us to engage, be vigilant, stand up for your parental rights and the rights of your children to not be indoctrinated or have their health compromised by efforts at providing “gender affirming” care.
- Threats to religious freedom and rights of conscience continue. Much of this threat, in the west, is driven by so-called “anti-discrimination” laws that frame traditional religious values as a threat to “progress.” But once again, this fight isn’t new to us – it just continues to find new battlefronts and new strategies.
You can see the work of United Families International continues to be crucial. And, as one of our colleagues has stated “This is one of the greatest battles of our time.” We need you and you don’t want to be one of those standing on the sidelines.
As you consider your end-of-year giving, please consider supporting us in this effort. Every dollar is carefully used, and we pledge to you, we will never stop fighting.
Sincerely,
Robert F Spiel, Chairman
United Families International