The World Cup Games in Qatar have featured special focus by western officials and fans on the rights and freedoms of LGBT persons; they raised gay pride banners during games, and wore LGBT badges or armbands. Reactions to that ranged from looking the other way, to denouncing and vocally rejecting the display of LGBT support during a sporting event. It was deplorable that reactions of some athletes, officials and media professionals explained off the situation by claiming that homosexuality is today a recognised human right in the advanced, developed world; and that it should be accepted as such by the backward, developing world.
I am not about to be dragged into an argument to defend our moral, religious, and societal fundamentals versus what we see as obnoxious advocacy for homosexuality. In the context of the principles held by Egypt and the Arab region, sometimes dubbed as “developing” and at other times “backward”, our views regarding family remain firm and unwavering. We believe that family is the nucleus of society, and that it embodies the woman as mother, the man as father, and the children. Watani takes pride in having addressed the issue of homosexuality, not by denouncing it but by calling for the acceptance and inclusion of gays, even as they are encouraged to enrol in programmes that would address any underlying problem they might suffer from.
I know that neither our convictions nor our constants will dissuade the “progressive” western world from their stance on homosexuality. Yet shedding light on some bold declarations made by institutions that belong to this “progressive” world, offers food for thought for those who embrace “modernity” and sneer at our “backwardness”.
In June 2016, a ruling was issued by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. The 47 judges representing the 47 States in the Council of Europe unanimously endorsed the ruling that “there is no right to same-sex marriage”. They published a statement of great relevance which has been surprisingly kept in the dark by influential political and interests groups. The ruling was based on philosophical and anthropological considerations based on the natural order, conventional wisdom, scientific reports and, of course, law. It was also based on Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which equates to treaty resolutions relating to human rights, in specific articles 17 of the P San José Act and 23 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. These resolutions endorse the notion of family as not only “the traditional concept of marriage, that is, the union of a man and a woman”, yet governments should be under no “obligation to open marriage to persons of the same sex”. Regarding the principle of non-discrimination exploited by gay couples to claim for themselves the right to marry equally to heterosexuals, the Court said there was no discrimination, since “States are free to reserve marriage only to heterosexual couples”.
It is of paramount importance to spread this kind of news because governments and pressure groups that support homosexual lobbies do not want people to know about it. Obviously, the media is not interested in publicising this information.
Another testimony I care to highlight belongs to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. In a statement last August, he addressed defenders of gay rights: “The mother is a woman, the father is a man, and leave our kids alone … full stop. End of discussion.” Mr Orban made this declaration in the context of constitutional amendments approved by Budapest regarding protecting the family and ensuring the right of a child to have a mother and a father. “In Hungary, we had to build not just a physical wall on our borders, and a financial wall around our family, but a legal wall around our children, to protect them against the gender ideology that is targeting them. Let’s be clear, they [defenders of homosexuality] think that parents should follow the progressive way of parenting, and if they refuse to do so, they should be forced by the State. Now the Hungarian Constitution protects families and children,” the Hungarian Prime Minister said. He then quoted a few sentences from the Hungarian fundamental law: “The family and the nation constitute the principal framework of our coexistence. Hungarian State institutions are obliged to protect the Christian culture of Hungary. Hungary shall protect the institution of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Family ties shall be based on marriage or the relationship between parents and children.” To sum up,” Mr Orban said, “the mother is a woman and the father is a man, and leave our kids alone.”
These are bright testimonies from the very heart of the West which feigns modernity and dubs us as backward.
9 December 2022
Discussion about this post