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The World Congress of Families insists its Salt Lake City conference this fall is open to all family advocates — gay or straight — but don't count on Utah's same-sex couples rushing to register.
Gay-rights groups said Tuesday they won't attend the Oct. 27-30 event, noting the organizers' view of family life doesn't include same-sex couples and their children.
The congress holds up the "natural family" — a husband and a wife, rearing children — as the ideal and has been dubbed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for fostering homophobia under the guise of protecting families.
"Many of those who claim the designation of pro-family are actually not," Mark Lawrence, who heads the group Restore Our Humanity, said during a news conference Tuesday. "Many of them claim that families must meet a very narrow and restrictive definition."
Even so, LGBT groups don't plan to picket or protest outside the downtown Salt Lake City event. There's "nothing to be gained" from that, said Lawrence.
Instead, these gay-rights groups — including Marriage Equality USA-Utah, Equality Utah and PFLAG — have formed the All Families Coalition and plan to counter the congress event with an "inclusive" conference of their own.
That announcement followed a World Congress of Families news conference across town touting the group's ninth international gathering as a haven for those who share the belief that marriage uniting one man and one woman is an institution defined by God.
"We are not free to make a definition of marriage," said Janice Shaw Crouse, executive director of the event. "That is the definition that has prevailed throughout history and across cultures … and we are unapologetic in our support of the natural family, but that does not mean disrespect for anybody else."
Gay families, in fact, are welcome to join the thousands from around the globe expected to attend the four-day conference, which will include seminars and panel discussions designed to provide individuals, communities and organizations tools for strengthening the family and protecting children, organizers said.
Online registration for the event opened Tuesday at http://wcf9.org/.
The Sutherland Institute, a conservative Salt Lake City think tank, is hosting the gathering. Founded by the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society in the mid-1990s, the Illinois-based congress has staged all of its previous events outside the U.S.
The congress long has had ties to Utah's predominant faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including working closely with Brigham Young University's World Family Policy Center, which co-sponsored and ran the 1999 event in Geneva. Mormon apostle Dallin H. Oaks is an honorary member of the group's board of directors.
An unnamed LDS general authority is included on the list of those expected to address the Salt Lake City conference, which also has the support of Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and some state lawmakers.
Herbert did not attend Tuesday's news conference, but sent well-known Utah humanitarian and homeless advocate Pamela Atkinson on his behalf. Sen. Al Jackson, R-Highland, and Sen. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, a co-sponsor of Utah's recently enacted LGBT nondiscrimination and religious-freedom law, also were on hand.
Crouse emphasized that the congress' belief that moral, healthy and stable communities stem from the union of men and women is not intended to denigrate or disrespect those who embrace a different definition. Nor is it the goal of the congress, she said, to tear down same-sex marriage.
"That's never been our focus," said Crouse, whose appointment has been criticized by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT advocacy group.
Lawrence said the All Families Coalition shares many of the concerns that the World Congress gathering seeks to address and would support initiatives that promote family stability — as along as all families are included.
"We do not believe in an either-or solution," he said. "The diversity of families strengthens, builds and enhances our communities. … Inclusion is the solution and making a place at the table for all is our goal."