The hate group Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) has used its place on the official U.S delegation to the annual United Nations women’s rights meeting, Commission on the Status of Women, to fundraise for itself in what appears to be a violation of federal ethics rules.
OutRight Action International calls for C-Fam’s immediate removal from the U.S delegation and for the group to be barred from the CSW negotiating room while their actions are under investigation.
On March 15th, OutRight issued a press release condemning the decision of the Trump Administration to appoint C-Fam to its official delegation on the basis of its violent views and designation as a hate group. Later that day, C-Fam issued a public statement condemning the “powerful OutRight” as a group of “radical homosexuals” and “modern day fascists.”
Jessica Stern, Executive Director of OutRight commented, “While C-Fam meant to insult OutRight, we will never be ashamed of having gay and lesbian employees, and we are proud to advocate for LGBTI rights. It’s difficult to understand why this violent mindset was rewarded with a seat at the table.”
Significantly, C-Fam used their condemnation of OutRight to ask supporters to pray and donate. They said, “support us right now at [link removed] and support us as much as you can.”
Stern said, “C-Fam’s actions appear to violate federal ethics laws. We don’t know who decided C-Fam should be on the official delegation, but we look to head of delegation US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley for clarity. We ask Ambassador Haley to immediately investigate whether it is ethical for a civil society representative to directly profit from appointment to a US government delegation or whether this amounts to a conflict of interest.”
Since at least 2014, C-Fam has been classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. C-Fam has advocated for the criminalisation of homosexuality and defended the Russian law that equates information about LGBTI health and rights with “propaganda.”
C-Fam President Austin Ruse has said “abortion lovers” are “coming for our children.” He also espoused violence when he wished his children would attend private colleges, “to keep them so far away from the hard left, human-hating people that run modern universities, who should all be taken out and shot.”
Stern commented,
When C-Fam walks into the negotiating room as a member of the official US delegation, are they advocating for the human rights of women and girls internationally or for the donor who paid the most? C-Fam should disclose how much they raised in donations and the names of these donors so they can be vetted for conflict of interest. Their fundraising does not go unnoticed, and there must be repercussions.
If C-Fam’s violent views were not enough to keep them from being appointed to represent the United States, we hope that exposing how they have unethically tried to profit off ties to this administration will compel Ambassador Haley to immediately remove them from the delegation. C-Fam must not be permitted to enter the negotiating room of the CSW while these questions of nearly certain violation of federal law remain unanswered.
On Friday March 17, OutRight wrote to Ambassador Haley to request an investigation into C-Fam’s fundraising and its removal from the official US delegation. OutRight also launched a petition which has been endorsed by over 700 organizations and individuals calling for C-Fam to be removed from the US delegation to the CSW for violating federal ethics laws.
