Canada
Anthony Silvestro , founder of the Ontario Alternative , says his new provincial conservative party will focus on fiscal issues, smaller government, multi-culturalism and bilingualism. Regarding abortion and gay “rights,” he told the Ottawa Citizen that the Ontario Alternative is “not going to get bogged down in social issues” … Homa Arjomand , an Iranian-Canadian activist who once worked at the Canadian embassy in Istanbul, told the Vancouver Sun that polygamy is rampant among Canada’s estimated 580,000 Muslims: “I live in Toronto. I have lived in British Columbia and Alberta and, believe me, even though it is illegal, people are practising polygamy.” She also said Muslim polygamists emigrating from Turkey routinely claim that second and third wives are dependent children, in order to avert Canada’s ostensible prohibition on multi-marriages … Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Drahma n says if the province charges Bountiful, B.C. Mormon fundamentalists Winston Blackmore and Jim Olmer , Charter of Rights issues such as freedom of religion and the freedom to marry multiple partners will be raised. Drahman also notes B.C.’s Mormon polygamists have supported dozens of children (sometimes 30-100 of them) by “milking government programs” … The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an application for leave to appeal by ” Jane Doe ,” a Calgary woman, who wanted to absolve her common-law husband of responsibility for the child she had by another man. The woman became pregnant by artificial insemination by an anonymous sperm donor and signed an agreement with her live-in boyfriend guaranteeing that he would not be legally responsible for her child. The court upheld an Alberta Court of Appeal decision from February ruling against the agreement, saying that the woman’s partner will “inevitably” assume the role of the father within the relationship.
United States
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has urged Amnesty International to return to a neutral position on abortion when the AI International Council meets in Mexico this August. USCCB president Bishop William S. Skylstad said in a statement: “The action of the executive council undermines Amnesty’s longstanding moral credibility, diverts its mission, divides its own members (many of whom are Catholic or defend the rights of unborn children) and jeopardizes Amnesty’s support by people in many nations, cultures and religions” … The state of Missouri passed a law stating that “no school district or charter school,” or their employees or agents, can “provide abortion services or permit a person or entity to offer, sponsor or furnish in any manner, any course materials or instruction relating to human sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases to its students, if such a person or entity is a provider of abortion services.” The American Life League applauded the law, noting it should prevent Planned Parenthood from entering Missouri’s schools …Opposition to same-sex “marriage” in the United States has grown. According to the Pew Research Centre , when asked, “Do you favour or oppose allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally?” just 32 per cent of respondents answered in the affirmative, while 57 per cent were opposed. In a similar survey conducted in March 2006, just 51 per cent of Americans were opposed to SSM … U.S. filmmaker and left-wing propagandist Michael Moore , producer of such “documentaries” as Bowling for Columbine , Fahrenheit 911 and Sicko says he might next tackle “homophobia.” Moore told the gay magazine The Advocate , “I think it’s a very ripe subject for a guy like me to make a movie about.” He added: “There is nowhere in the four Gospels where Jesus uses the word “homosexual” … the right wing has appropriated this guy and they have used him to attack gays and lesbians.” .
International
Nearly a dozen of the 29 state governments in India are fighting a national government attempt to impose a sex education curriculum that focuses on AIDS, condoms and birth control. Indian Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss marked World Population Day (July 11) with a veiled call for depopulation: “In our country, we do sex. But we don’t talk about it and that is why we have a billion population” … To relieve so-called population pressures, Red China will encourage workers to find employment abroad and in less sparsely populated areas of the country. But Yu Xuejun , spokesman for the National Population and Family Planning Commission , made it clear the new policy does not replace strict family planning rules and the brutal one-child policy: “Family planning is of course not the only way to cut the population, it can only be one way.” Officially, Beijing points to the “success” of the one-child policy by claiming it has prevented 400 million births … The Swedish government has proposed revising the marriage law to make it gender neutral. If passed, Sweden would become the sixth country to legalize same-sex “marriage.” Same-sex relationships have had legal recognition in Sweden since 1995, when the country implemented the Registered Partnership Act. The Lutheran Church of Sweden began blessing such unions this year. The SSM proposal will permit clergy to opt out of performing homosexual marriages.