Gay marriage would see ‘mother’ and father’ disappear – Family First NZ

January 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Terms such as mother, father, husband and wife could disappear from the law if gay marriage is legalised, MPs have been told.

Family First director Bob McCoskrie told the select committee considering Louisa Wall’s gay marriage bill that Spanish law had recently replaced the terms mother and father with Progenitor A and Progenitor B.

“The US State of Washington is to remove the terms husband and wife from divorce courts,” he said.

“In France the words mother and father will be stripped from official documents, McCoskrie tabled 24,000 extra signatures to petition against the bill on top of 48,000 already presented at parliament.

“I see marriage as similar to the Treaty of Waitangi. It is historical. It is the foundation of our culture,” he said.

“It certainly shouldn’t be altered.”

New Zealand Aids Foundation told the committee that countries with less discrimination against gay people have lower rates of HIV.

“The internalisation of homophobia leads to a devaluation of self and a reduction in the ability of gay, lesbian and transgender people to make positive decisions,” said doctor Jason Myers of the Foundation.

Source

Gay marriage would see ‘mother’ and father’ disappear – McCoskrie

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/gay-marriage/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503276&objectid=10860708

APNZ. Buy Simon Collins

Note: Family First New Zealand is a registered charity (Charity No. CC10094)  and was registered with the Charities Commission on 21 March 2007.

 

Filed Under: Marriage Tagged With: , ,

Call from registered charity Family First NZ to politicians to change Anti-Smacking Law

June 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission, has yet again called on politicians “to adopt the ‘Borrows’ amendment which did not ban smacking but which clearly stated what was abusive and what was not.” It has highlighted cases it claims “Reveal CYF Ignoring Intent of Ant-Smacking Law”.

Family First protest

NZPA Images
Reference: 25524
Photograph by Tim Hales

Source: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/interest-groups/3/5

Cases Reveal CYF Ignoring Intent of Ant-Smacking Law

Media Release dated 18 June 2012

Family First NZ has released further cases highlighting how the anti-smacking law is being used to criminalise and persecute good parents.

“These cases add to the extensive list of cases already listed on the website www.protectgoodparents.org.nz and our documentary “My Mummy’s A Criminal” highlighting five families and the inaccuracies of the Prime Ministerial review led by Psychologist Nigel Latta,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

“These latest cases show a disturbing trend. Not only are police resources being wasted on investigating ‘smacking’ allegations, but Child Youth and Family (CYF) are ignoring the intent of the law and are removing children from good homes where the parents may use a smack, are failing to adequately investigate the background of families before uplifting children and traumatising families, and are refusing to place children with extended family who may use a smack even when CYF acknowledge the expertise and safety of the parents. They are also ignoring the fact that in many cases, the police are seeing no reason to prosecute.”

At the time of the law being passed, Prime Minister John Key said “Good parents want to have confidence that they will not be criminalised by this legislation if they give their children a light smack. It sends a strong signal that the level of violence against children in our society is unacceptable, but at the same time gives parents confidence that they will not be criminalised for carrying out their normal parenting duties.”

“The law was always sold to the public by pretending that non-abusive smacking would not result in a visit by the police or a social worker to remove the children. But the cases released today – and previously – show the exact opposite is happening,” says Mr McCoskrie. “Parenting has been put on trial in New Zealand, and they have every right to be concerned about a flawed, confusing, and badly applied law.”

“It is significant that the ‘discretion’ clause only applied to police and not CYF. At least with the police, parents get to have their day in court to defend themselves – even if it means going all the way to the Court of Appeal as one of our cases highlights. But with CYF, they are unaccountable to the families.”

Family First continues to call on politicians to adopt the ‘Borrows’ amendment which did not ban smacking but which clearly stated what was abusive and what was not. This has been successfully used in other jurisdictions such as the UK and Australia.

ENDS

For case studies see:

http://familyfirst.org.nz/2012/06/cases-reveal-cyf-ignoring-intent-of-anti-smacking-law/

Filed Under: Anti-smacking Bill Tagged With: , , , , ,

Nudists Should Cover up For Sake of Families – says Family First NZ

January 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission, is calling on the Tauranga District Council to follow the lead of the Kapiti Coast District Council and pass a bylaw outlawing public nudity on the coastline.  It is also calling on the government to amend the Crimes Act and Summary Offences Act so that the precedent to allow public nudity, set in past cases by liberal judges on events such as the ‘Boobs on Bikes’, can be overturned. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: , ,

Teens Conservative on Sex & Abortion Issues – Poll Results

January 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

  • Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission headed by Chief Executive Trevor Garrett, has today released the results of a Curia Market Research poll it commissioned into moral issues involving a survey of 600 15-21 year olds nationwide. In its media release, based on an analysis of the poll results, it attacks the views promulgated by three registered charities - Family Planning Association, and the two “gay” lobby groups Rainbow Youth and the NZ Aids Foundation. It also makes another call to the government to effect a law change that gives an unborn child the same human rights as any other human being.

Family First NZ states:

TEENS REJECT ‘SAFE SEX’ EDUCATION

SUPPORT PARENTAL NOTIFICATION AND ‘RIGHT TO LIFE’

A nationwide poll of 600 young people aged 15-21 poll has found that they hold conservative values on sex issues – which are significantly similar to the views of parents.

 SEX EDUCATION

When asked “Do you think sex education in schools should teach values, abstinence and consequences such as pregnancy, or just teach safe sex?” only 19% supported just the ‘safe sex’ message currently being taught in schools, with one in three (34%) wanting ‘values, abstinence, and consequences such as pregnancy’ taught instead, and a further 42% asking for a combination of both – especially amongst older teens. The support for just the ‘safe sex’ message dropped even lower for the older teens.

 “This is a direct rebuke from young people to the ‘use a condom’ and ‘everyone’s doing it’ messages being pushed by groups like Family Planning, AIDS Foundation and Rainbow Youth,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

 “Many parents were rightly horrified last year when details of what was being taught in schools under the guise of ‘sex education’ surfaced. Judging by the results of the current approach – which is a good place to start – sex education has been an utter failure. New Zealand has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the OECD, our STD rates are out of control and the number of teenage girls having abortions continues to rise.”

 “For those youth who are sexually active, they are not being told the truth. Groups like the Family Planning Association and the AIDS Foundation are perpetuating the myth that as long as you use a condom, you can pretty well do what you like in terms of promiscuity, experimentation, and fringe behaviours – with little or no information on the physical or emotional ramifications or prevention of disease.”

In one example, a mixed class of boys and girls were asked by the AIDS Foundation if they had masturbated lately and were given condoms and strawberry-flavoured lubricant. They were also given a leaflet featuring graphic pictures, terms including “cock” and “wank”, and advice on the best condoms. Reports last year highlighted that children as young as 12 are being taught about oral sex and told it’s acceptable to play with a girl’s private parts as long as “she’s okay with it”. In other cases, 14-year-old girls are being taught how to put condoms on plastic penises, and one female teacher imitated the noises she made during orgasm to her class of 15-year-olds. One concerned father took his 12-year-old son out of a sex education class at his all-boy school after he came home upset about what had happened during one of the lessons. It included a question-and-answer session that focused on, “I have learned that my girlfriend has a thing called a clitoris. I really want to play with it. Is that okay?” The answer was: “Yes, if you ask her and she’s okay with it.”

 A poll of parents in 2010 found that three out of four parents of young children want the abstinence message taught in sex education – with 69% of kiwis overall supporting the ‘wait’ message. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Moral Values Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Hamilton Councillors Should Reject Sex Expo – says Family First NZ

November 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission, has issued a media release today, calling on Hamilton Councillors to refuse an application t0 stage a Sex Expo, promoting hardcore pornography, in council-owned buildings.

Family First NZ Media Release 18 November:

Hamilton Councillors Should Reject Sex Expo

Family First NZ is calling on Hamilton Councillors to reject the application for the Erotica Expo to be held in the council-owned Claudelands Arena.

 “Council buildings should only be available for family-friendly events which are beneficial to the community. The Erotica Expo is simply an attempt to normalise the hard core pornography industry,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

 “Pornography has a damaging effect on intimacy, love, and respect and at its worst, leads to sex role stereotyping, viewing persons as sexual objects, and family breakdown.”

 Research at Australia’s La Trobe University recently concluded “This is not about couples going to the porn store to spice up their sex lives. Men in growing numbers are using porn in ways that are secret, shameful and damaging. It is having a damaging impact on intimacy and sexuality.”

Research has also shown that children who are exposed to pornography develop skewed ideas about sex and sexuality, which lead to negative stereotypes of women, sexual activity at a young age, and increased aggression in boys.

A meta-analysis of research by the National Foundation for Family Research and Education (NFFRE) at the University of Calgary found that viewing pornography leads to perceptions of sexual dominance, sex role stereotyping, viewing persons as sexual objects, sexual aggressiveness, and sexually hostility and violent behaviours.

“We are asking the Hamilton City Council to exercise moral leadership and act in the best interests of families by rejecting this application. The Council should not be associated in any way with the promotion of the pornography industry which harms our families,” says Mr McCoskrie

ENDS

Filed Under: Moral Values, Pornography Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Donate Telecom’s aborted rugby world cup abstinence campaign to Family Planning

August 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment

In its media release today, Family First NZ, a registered charity with the Charities Commission, is calling on Telecom NZ to donate its aborted “corny” rugby world cup promo abstinence campaign – to the New Zealand Family Planning Association Inc. (FPA) to be used in its nationwide school sex education programmes.  The FPA was registered as a charity with the Charities Commission on 13 September 2007 (Charity Ref. No. CC11104). Its stated mission is “To promote a positive view of sexuality and to enable people to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health.”

The Family First Media Release states:

Make It Family Friendly, Telecom

Family First is welcoming Telecom’s decision to cancel its rugby world cup campaign.
 
“The campaign was always destined to fail because it was corny and not family-friendly,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.
 
“The All Blacks fan club is made up of children and families, and any campaign needs to involve all ages and be family friendly.”
 
“The best thing to do with this campaign is to give it to the Family Planning Association and ask them to use it in schools with the sex ed programmes.”
 
Family First is encouraging Telecom to find a family friendly campaign that all of the kiwi family can participate in.

ENDS

Filed Under: Family, Sexuality Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Why saying ‘I do’ is good for families – Bob McCoskrie (Director – Family First NZ)

July 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

[On 27 June the Dominion Post published the following article in defence of marriage and the family, by Bob McCoskrie, national director of the registered charity - Family First NZ]

On April 29, two billion people worldwide sat in front of their TV screens as they witnessed one of the most public weddings in history – the marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

No-one asked why they were getting married, why they didn’t get a civil union instead, or said that the ceremony was pointless and unnecessary. It was simply the dream that many aspire to.

Just 20,900 couples got married in New Zealand last year – an all-time low. This has led to claims that a wedding ring is unnecessary to legitimise parenthood and sexual activity. Put simply: some think marriage doesn’t matter. On that basis, civil unions matter even less – only 273 couples got one last year.

But do declining rates mean that it doesn’t matter? Should we be concerned that marriage rates are at an all-time low? Yes, we should. Marriage matters. The weakening of marriage is one of the most important social issues we are facing.

A 2006 British report said that the breakdown of the traditional married family was at the root of teenagers being involved in violent acts, taking more drugs, drinking more, and having sex at a younger age.

But the report didn’t come from a “Right-wing think-tank’ or lobby group with a “moralist agenda”. It was from Britain’s most prominent and influential Left-leaning policy group – the Institute for Public Policy Research. It contradicted years of ideology that family structure doesn’t matter.

Cohabitation statistics in the 21st century released this year by British social reform organisation the Jubilee Centre found that married couples with children are 10 times more likely to stay together than de facto couples – and marriages last an average of four years longer if partners haven’t lived together before getting married.

According to the study, in 1993 70 per cent of couples who had children after they got married remained married at their child’s 16th birthday – increasing to 75 per cent in 2006. Yet just 36 per cent of cohabiting parents were together for their child’s 16th birthday in 1992 – reducing to just 7 per cent in 2006. This indicates that marriage has become a more stable family background for raising children.

According to Why Marriage Matters – a report co-authored by 13 leading social- science scholars, including Professor William Galston, a domestic policy adviser to the Clinton administration – parental divorce or non-marriage appears to increase children’s risk of school failure, the risk of suicide, psychological distress and, most significantly, delinquent and criminal behaviour.

For full published article go to:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/5195687/Why-saying-I-do-is-good-for-our-families

OR

Family First NZ website: www.familyfirst.org.nz

Filed Under: Celebrating Christian Tradition, Family, Marriage, Moral Values Tagged With: , , , , ,

BSA Slams TVNZ’s Close Up Porn Promotion

March 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Media Release by Family First NZ, a registered charity with the NZ Charities Commission.

“The trend by the networks to sexualise news and current events is disturbing” – Family First NZ

Family First NZ is welcoming a ruling from the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) demanding that TVNZ publicly acknowledge their breach of broadcasting standards for a programme in August 2010 which offended many families with its gratuitous display of the porn industry. TVNZ has also been ordered to pay a paltry $3,000 fine.

“As a result of a campaign by Family First supporters, TVNZ received an ‘unprecedented’ number of complaints regarding this programme. The Close Up story was based around the promotion of the porn industry – all under the guise of so-called ‘daily news and current events’. The trend by the television networks to sexualise news and current events and use sexual innuendo is disturbing,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Broadcasting Standards Authority, Censorship, Children's Television, Complaints to Broadcasters, Pornography Tagged With: , , , , , ,

‘Crass’ News Item on Child Abuse Draws Formal Complaint [from Family First NZ]

December 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment

MEDIA RELEASE: 28 December 2010 Source www.familyfirst.org.nz

Family First NZ has laid an official complaint with the Broadcasting Standards Authority over a disgraceful TV3 Nightline news story (ref. 1) broadcast on the day before Christmas Eve which trivialised and made light of child sex abuse. [Family First NZ is a registered charity with the NZ Charities Commission and its objectives are supported by SPCS].

“It was broadcast only 24 hours after it had been revealed (ref. 2) that the horrendous case of child abuse of a West Auckland 9 year old that had shocked the nation also involved sexual abuse by a CYF caregiver. It was also introduced by the presenter with the pun ‘a touching Christmas story’,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

“It was crass, completely inappropriate, and offensive to many people who would have been shocked, revolted and upset by the revelations of severe and long-term abuse of a nine year old which was in the news.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Announcement, Broadcasting Standards Authority, Family Tagged With: , , , , ,

A reminder that the administration of the abortion law is a travesty

September 7, 2010 by Leave a Comment

By KARL DU FRESNE – The Dominion Post 20/07/2010
OPINION: It went unnoticed by the media, but Justice Minister Simon Power recently issued a press statement announcing that Rosemary Fenwicke had decided not to seek reappointment to the Abortion Supervisory Committee. There’s a story behind this. Dr Fenwicke, a member of the three-person committee since 2007, is an abortion certifying consultant who earns fees by approving the termination of pregnancies. She is also a former medical director of the Family Planning Association, a major abortion referral agency. She was nominated for the committee in 2007 by the Labour government of Helen Clark, whose pro-abortion sympathies are well known.

The appointment seemed not only an unconscionable conflict of interest, but a calculated insult to the many New Zealanders who regard abortion as deeply repugnant. Were they really expected to believe the government couldn’t find someone who didn’t have a material stake in the abortion business? (Certifying consultants were paid $5 million in 2008, and even pro-abortionists acknowledge it’s a lucrative business.) The very nature of her professional activity suggested Dr Fenwicke was not neutral on this divisive issue, yet Parliament rejected an attempt by MP Gordon Copeland, a staunch opponent of abortion, to overturn her nomination. (It was supposedly a conscience vote but Labour MPs were instructed to support Dr Fenwicke, meaning her appointment was assured.)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/opinion/3935262/A-reminder-that-the-administration-of-the-abortion-law-is-a-travesty

[Note: Article link sourced from Family First - a well respected charity registered with the Charities Commission.See www.familyfirst.org.nz and www.charities.govt.nz ].

Filed Under: Abortion Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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