United Families International (UFI) is a United States nonprofit organization founded in 1978 by Susan Roylance. UFI works on an international scale to influence public policy toward "maintaining and strengthening the family". UFI has NGO status with ECOSOC and works to spread their opinion to

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

(UN) ambassadors and delegates on family related issues. UFI also operates a website, DefendMarriage.org. They are listed by the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...

(SPLC) as an anti-gay

hate group A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race (human classification), race, Ethnic group, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any o ...

. but are supported by and in agreement with significant portions of the Christian conservative coalition.

History

United Families International was founded in 1978 by Susan Roylance of Washington state and Jan Clark of South Carolina. The group actively promotes what it believes are "traditional family values" internationally, nationally and locally. UFI under Roylance was actively involved in promoting "traditional family values" at the Beijing Conference in the mid 1990s. Roylance characterized the conference as a "wakeup call for those who believe the traditional family unit to be an important basic unit of society". The organization received ECOSOC accreditation and participated in the

World Congress of Families The World Congress of Families (WCF) is a United States coalition that promotes Christian right values internationally. It opposes same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, while supporting a society built on "the voluntary union of a man and ...

II Conference in Switzerland in 1999. UFI has brought its platform to international organizations, including the UN in 2002, at which it joined more than 300 activists in urging diplomats to "reaffirm marriage and promote sexual abstinence among teen-agers." Sharon Slater, UFI's president at the time asked UN diplomats "to ensure that religions are respected and protected in U.N. documents, insofar as they respect the family and the dignity of the human person". The

(SPLC) first designated United Families International as an anti-gay hate group in 2012.

Issues

Political involvement

UFI, considered by some to be part of the Christian right and a

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

organization, is connected with several politicians in Arizona. Republican U.S. Representative

Andy Biggs Andrew Steven Biggs (born November 7, 1958) is an American attorney and politician who represents in the United States House of Representatives. The district, which was once represented by U.S. Senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, is in the ...

is the former policy advisor to UFI and his wife Cindy is the secretary and treasurer of the organization. Republican state Representative Cecil Ash and his wife are also affiliated with the organization. In 2006, UFI contributed $50,000 in support of Arizona Proposition 107, the Protect Marriage Arizona initiative, a proposed

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

ban that was ultimately defeated.

Homosexuality

In their ''Guide to Family Issues'' UFI makes a number of claims about homosexuality, including *"Discrimination on the basis of gender or race is vastly different from discrimination on the basis of sexual practice." *"Pedophilia is widespread among the homosexual community." *"Reputable studies and decades of successful treatment show that homosexual behavior can be changed." *"It is not marriage, but women in marriage, that help to contain and channel the male sexual appetite." *"In fact it is more compassionate to discourage homosexuality than to tolerate it."

References

External links