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World Congress of Families Calls on Producers of Dispatches Documentary to Air the Truth
Contact: Benjamin May, World Congress of Families, 202-413-0119, bmay@policyimpact.com; www.wcf9.org 

ROCKFORD, Ill., July 23, 2015 /Standard Newswire/ -- The World Congress of Families (WCF) is calling on the producers of the soon-to-be-aired documentary, "Hunted: Gay and Afraid," to accurately portray WCF rather than resort to baseless attacks, misinformation, and misrepresentations similar to those perpetuated by radical LGBT groups that have become exponentially aggressive since WCF announced its historic first meeting in the United States, in Salt Lake City in October.

The documentary—produced by the British TV current affairs documentary series, "Dispatches" —claims to "expose the backlash against gay rights and to shed light on WCF." From its early promotional material, it appears that the documentary is filled with misinformation, intentional or otherwise, thus failing to acknowledge that WCF is not a lobbying group and has never advocated for laws that would harm, harass, or disparage those choosing an LGBT lifestyle.  WCF does, however, support policies and legislation that strengthen the welfare of the natural family and protects human rights for all consistent with The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
 
"Reputable journalists and documentarians strive to present the truth.  We ask that the producers of this documentary get correct information and not tarnish their reputation by airing falsehoods about our organization for the sole purpose of promoting a particular agenda," said Janice Shaw Crouse, a member of the Board of Directors of WCF and Executive Director of the World Congress on Families IX. "At the very least, they should seek comment or reaction from official representatives of WCF about the information they have collected."
 
This month, WCF released a "A Call for Civil Dialogue and Constructive Engagement," a twenty-eight page report that corrects, in detail, a barrage of negative and unwarranted attacks on the WCF initiated primarily by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
 
The report addresses more than 25 inaccuracies, the most vicious of which is the labeling of WCF as a "hate group," and one that supports violence against the LGBT community.   The report can be downloaded here: wcf9.org/files/2015/07/WCF_CallForCivilDialogue_Final.pdf.
 
The Dispatches documentary appears to be a poorly produced adaptation of an old report in the San Francisco Chronicle from more than a year ago titled, "With Gains in US, Gay Rights Fight Goes Abroad" (www.sfgate.com/world/article/With-gains-in-U-S-gay-rights-fight-goes-abroad-5486716.php).  At least the Chronicle had some journalistic integrity in reporting on the false charges of hate against World Congress of Families and its leaders.  The report quoted WCF Managing Director Larry Jacobs, "The charges about us being anti-gay are really taking our support of the natural family and trying to turn it into some kind of hateful crusade," Jacobs said. "Our goal is to love everyone: children, families. I love homosexuals. I don't have a problem saying that. But I don't think they have the right to change marriage."

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is the largest gathering of pro-family advocates in the world. WCF IX will seek to provide sound scholarship and effective strategies, and it will mobilize intellectual and advocacy resources to affirm and defend the natural family as the fundamental and only sustainable unit of a free society.

For more information, please visit WCF9.org or follow WCF on Facebook or Twitter.

To download a PDF version of this press release, please click here.