BRUSSELS, Belgium, SEPT. 9, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The family will be the rallying point for an organized protest this Saturday in Brussels against the government’s project to allow homosexual couples to adopt children.
Under the motto “The Family Is Truly Important!” representatives of 10 international pro-family federations and 600 not-for-profit organizations, who directly represent more than 20 million families, will march in the centrally located Parc du Cinquantenaire, confirmed the Institute of Family Policies (IFP).
A similar event took place June 18 in Madrid, when 1.5 million people took to the streets to support marriage, the family and children, with unprecedented international backing from pro-family organizations worldwide.
“If the manifestation of June 18 in Madrid marked an inflection point and the start of a family movement at the international level, the Brussels manifestation implies a referendum to such a worldwide coalition,” noted Lola Velarde, president of IFP.
“It is outrageous that in 21st-century Europe they want to do away with the rights of children, turning their backs on society and on the scientific community which has stated that the adoption of children by homosexual couples has had harmful effects for minors,” said Velarde.
Children’s rights
According to Carine Brochier, one of the demonstration’s organizers, “there is no right of adoption. There is only an adoption procedure in favor of a child, who has the right to be born and to grow in the heart of a family made up of a father and a mother.
“This guarantees that the child will have a minimum of well-being and the most balanced surroundings possible, ensuring an optimal emotional, psychological and social development.”
The Belgian bishops’ conference released a statement that supports the event and encourages the public “to live this initiative as a serene gesture in favor of the family, one of the pillars of our society.”
Parallel rallies will also be held in front of the Belgian embassies in the Spanish cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Seville, Malaga, Mallorca and Tenerife.
