Pro-family activism that makes a difference!
 
 

Over 300,000 rally in Rome against homosexual ‘civil unions’ and gay adoption as vote in Parliament nears.

Europeans understand the problem and are willing to confront the issue, while most pro-family Americans have compromised.

POSTED: Feb 4 2016

On Saturday, Jan. 30 over 300,000 people from across Italy traveled to Rome and gathered in and around the Circus Maximus to demand that the country’s Parliament reject a proposed law that would legalize homosexual civil unions and allow homosexual couples to adopt each other’s biological children (conceived via surrogate, etc.).


Photo: LifeSiteNews.

People from all walks of life, including lots of families with children, came to hear speeches and express their strong opposition to the bill, now in the Italian Parliament. Organizers put the estimate of the entire crowd at about 2 million people, but news agencies and city authorities calculated a lower figure.


Banners saying "No civil unions." [Photo: AP]

The rally is a huge contrast to the climate in the US. The pro-family establishment across the United States began conceding the issues of civil unions and “gay adoption” over a dozen years ago. Almost all pro-family groups here now either vocally support both or refuse to criticize their legalization. A few frontline groups (such as MassResistance, AFTAH, MissionAmerica) have continued to hold the line, often being ostracized by other groups for doing so.

There has been criticism that those concessions greatly helped propel the US Supreme Court’s Obergefell “gay marriage” ruling last year. In fact, the US pro-family legal group leading the charge flatly refused to even bring bring up the issues of civil unions or “gay adoption” in the Federal Courts or Supreme Court.


Banner says "Wrong is wrong, even if it becomes law." [Photo: Reuters]

The Italians and Europeans not backing down

But the Italians and other Europeans are not as reticent. They are especially outraged about “gay adoption” and all of the reproductive and cultural changes it brings. According to one survey, 85% of Italians are solidly opposed to it. This was reflected strongly in the speeches that day.

As LifeSite News reported:

The protestors expressed their concern that such a measure would enable homosexuals to contract with egg donors and surrogates to “synthesize” children who will never know their mothers and who lack any right to a natural family.

“The uterus is not a furnace in which a manufactured product is made!” said Massimo Gandolfini, the main spokesman for the march, to the assembled crowd.

Calling the proposed law “destructive,” Gandolfini warned that if it were approved, “there will be an enormous confusion in which the family will no longer exist, but rather various models and confusions of the family, and the victims will be our children, because the law has the power to change the culture of a people.”

Another organizer, Simone Pollon, told the crowd:

We want the whole law to be withdrawn, no ifs and no buts ... We cannot let children pay for the desires or caprices of adults. Children need to have a father and a mother.

The Italian Bishops Conference has come out firmly against the bill and many of the banners on display had overt religious overtones. But there was some harsh criticism by conservative Italian Catholics that the Church was not doing enough. This contrasts to the Dec. 20 nationwide vote in Slovenia to repeal their “gay marriage” law after the Pope publicly intervened.


Banner: "We are here to defend our children." [Photo: Reuters]

Battle coming up in Parliament over the bill

Italy’s Senate took up the bill on Jan. 28. The final vote in the Senate is expected mid-February, after which it will go before the lower house of Parliament.

According to news reports, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had promised to pass this law by the end of last year but has faced fierce opposition over this from within ranks of his ruling coalition. The Parliament is deeply divided over the issue and opponents are hopeful they can sink it, as they have done it the past.

At the rally, the mood was definitely against the Prime Minister. A huge red and white banner in the crowd read "Renzi, we will remember." A father with his five children waved a placard reading: "Renzi, those who slip, fall."

Not afraid

We applaud the Italians and other Europeans who are standing firm in large numbers and are not the least bit intimidated by the powerful LGBT movement. The effects on innocent children are important to them. If only that were the case here in the United States.


According to news reports, thousands of people held signs saying "Wrong is wrong, even if it becomes law." [Photo: Reuters]

 

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