Am I a part of the new “pro-Putin right”? Evidently, opposing U.S. involvement and intervention over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and being a social conservative supportive of the “natural family” and long an opponent of civil rights based upon the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” places me in the category of the pro-Putin right in America.
Such is the conclusion of journalist Eric Levitz writing for Vox online in a recent article titled, “The twisted appeal of Trump’s humiliation of Zelenskyy,” subtitled “Why some conservatives took pride in a national disgrace.”
Levitz surmises,
“The right’s enthusiasm for Zelenskyy’s [during the recent White House visit with President Donald Trump] humiliation has two distinct sources.
“First, among America’s most radical social conservatives, Putin’s Russia has long commanded admiration as an exemplar of traditional sexual morality, in an increasingly decadent (i.e., LGBTQ-friendly) world.
“Second, a broader cohort of contrarian commentators, isolationist intellectuals, and nationalistic voters believe that the benefits of aiding Ukraine are slim, while the tail-risks are catastrophic.”
As his article unfolds, Levitz reveals a decisive and elaborate connection between the World Congress of Families (WCF) and Vladimir Putin. Levitz cites a 2013 Russian “anti-propaganda” law banning the public promotion of gay rights. Levitz suggests that the World Congress of Families had something to do with that, largely in part because Russian oligarchs were, at the time, big financial contributors to the WCF.
So, I followed the breadcrumbs. After all, between early 1998 and late 2000, I was the executive vice-president of The Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society (THC), the founder of the World Congress of Families. While I had moved on to run the Sutherland Institute in December 2000, I remained a WCF insider for over a decade, even having planned for the WCF9 to be held in Salt Lake City in 2015.
I am proud of that association and my efforts on behalf of the WCF. I administered the second WCF in Geneva, Switzerland, setting the tone and example for several WCFs to follow. As a part of the WCF movement, I co-authored with THC and WCF founder Allan Carlson the book, The Natural Family: A Manifesto in 2007. I remained on the WCF executive committee through the ninth WCF and I participated in WCF programs held in Geneva, Warsaw, Amsterdam, and Sydney.
So, Levitz’s article caught my attention and I dug deeper down his narrative’s rabbit hole.
The next stop in Levitz’s narrative was a 2017 Politico article – an adaptation from a report entitled “The Rise of the ‘Traditionalist International’: How Moscow cultivates American white nationalists, domestic secessionists, and the Religious Right,” from People For the American Way – by Casey Michel who drew a deeper connection between Putin and American social conservatives. Michel’s springboard was a 2014 column in Townhall online by America Firster and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan titled “Whose Side is God on Now?,” wherein he wrote, “In the culture war for the future of mankind, Putin is planting Russia’s flag firmly on the side of traditional Christianity.”
Michel and then Levitz picked on this tidbit by Buchanan,
“This writer was startled to read in the Jan-Feb. newsletter from the social conservative World Council [sic] of Families in Rockford, Ill., that, of the “ten best trends” in the world in 2013, number one was “Russia Emerges as Pro-Family Leader.”
And,
“While the other super-powers march to a pagan worldview,” writes WCF’s Allan Carlson, “Russia is defending Judeo-Christian values. During the Soviet era, Western communists flocked to Moscow. This year, World Congress of Families VII will be held in Moscow, Sept. 10-12.”
You can find Michel’s full report at People for the American Way as well as here, here, and here. The Human Rights Campaign added in 2014 its report, “Exposed: The World Congress of Families – An American Organization Exporting Hate” and its 2015 update.
All in all – wow! I’d have never imagined that the WCF I helped to get off the ground in 1998 would come to dominate the world of Russian-American social policy in 2015. But there are facts and then there is truth. These opposition reports contain many undisputable facts, but they are a little light on truth – you know, the whole Paul Harvey “rest of the story” contextual stuff that turns myth into reality.
In all honesty, I was motivated to write this piece to cover my ass and also as an “I told you so” to a few of my former Sutherland Institute colleagues who entertained the 2015 WCF9 without me (as well as a few WCF folks since those days).
As I have written elsewhere in my books Unworthy and Defeated, just four hours after getting fired from Sutherland on August 15, 2014, I received a phone call from Sutherland’s board chairman asking me to stay on to run the WCF9 scheduled for October 2015. While I said no, I agreed to stay close in support of the event. It was my decision to stay at arm’s length of the WCF9, so when I say that the event went on without me, it was all my doing. But I had my reasons beyond sour apples from just having been fired from Sutherland.
Here is what I want to make clear: Not only did I have nothing to do with the WCF connections with Russia, I was an outspoken opponent of the relationship.
Still at an arms-length distance from the WCF9, a meeting was scheduled for March 17-19, 2015 at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, to discuss plans for WCF 9 and also to discuss selections for further WCF events. I was not interested in attending. Our family was taking a cruise the week before and that timing combined with my continuing reluctance to be intimately involved with the WCF at the time made me even less interested than normal.
But then I received outreach from two good friends asking, at times pleading with, me to attend the Fort Worth meeting. Larry Jacobs, a young man who followed me as executive vice-president of THC in the early 2000s and, by the time of the Fort Worth meeting, was listed as the “managing director” of the WCF, emailed me a formal invitation to attend. Privately, he pleaded with me to attend to bring some sort of stability to the proceedings.
At the same time, a very dear friend, Janice Crouse, to be anointed the “managing director” of the WCF9 at the Fort Worth meeting, also pled with me to attend. I knew the planning for the WCF9 was in disarray but I had no idea that WCF insiders (including Larry Jacobs) would be pushing for the WCF coalition to commit to holding an event in Moscow – although I did notice on Larry’s formal invitation to the Fort Worth meeting the name “Alexey Komov – WCF Russia; Russia Orthodox Church, Patriarch’s Commission for the Family.”
I won’t belabor describing the meeting in Fort Worth except to say, first, the plans for the WCF9 to be held in Salt Lake City later in 2015 truly were in disarray – only ideas, nothing set – and, second, a proposition was laid on the table to hold a WCF event in Moscow before the WCF9 event. The Moscow meeting would not be a full WCF conference.
Alexey Komov made his pitch. A WCF event in Moscow would have the full backing of Vladamir Putin, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Krill (Putin’s religious lapdog), and several oligarchs. No money need be expended by WCF – unless, of course, the Russians disapproved of suggested agenda items (i.e., anyone they did not like) and, if so, WCF could cover costs.
Komov was an arrogant and smug young man. I suppose not unexpected for such a young man to travel to America representing Russia’s power elite. When he was done with his presentation, many group participants were all set to go to Russia. And then I raised my hand.
I looked Komov in the eye and offered that, while his proposal was tempting for all of the same reasons starving beggars bow beneath the “compassion” of passers-by, I did not trust Komov personally and Russia in particular. They were awful human beings and for the WCF to hold an event in Moscow would be an insult to the long-standing WCF brand.
I was reminded that the WCF was founded when Allan Carlson met in Russia in 1997 with two Russian university professors. And he did and that meeting led to the first WCF in Prague that same year. But two open-minded university professors were a lot different than Putin, Krill, and the oligarchs. After all, Russia had just invaded Crimea in 2014, almost a year and a day prior to our Fort Worth conclave. Aggressive and unprovoked invasion of another country is quite a bit different than the WCF organizing model of bringing the world together.
Anyway, I stuck to my guns and argued that the WCF would be irresponsible to hold an event in Moscow. I need this point to be on the record. Yes, WCF leadership, but not all, traveled to a Russia-adjacent location – Tbilisi, Georgia – and ultimately accomplished what the few had set out to do: influence Russian social policy. I did not and spoke adamantly against it.
Of course, Putin ultimately just used them to validate his own social policies against homosexuals. But at the time, inclusion alone was enough for credit-seeking WCF leadership.
The progressive narrative about the “evils” of the WCF connection with Putin is probably spot on, or at least deserved given the embarrassing finagling of a few of the WCF inner circle. I do need to share that not everyone who traveled to Russia/Georgia is to blame for the organizational mistake. For instance, my dear friend, Janice Crouse attended but did so under pressure as she was just appointed to oversee the WCF9 in Salt Lake City that same year. Janice struggled with the decision to go.
The WCF was turned over to Brian Brown of the International Organization for the Family (IOF) during that same timeframe and WCF founder, Allan Carlson, was retiring. In other words, the WCF was no longer what it was. It went from the most sophisticated organizing model on the Right to just another thing that right-wingers do (poorly).
I was never a part of the WCF’s pilgrimage to Russia in 2015. Putin is an enemy of the United States. Always has been, always will be.
No, Putin and I are not friends
Am I a part of the new “pro-Putin right”? Evidently, opposing U.S. involvement and intervention over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and being a social conservative supportive of the “natural family” and long an opponent of civil rights based upon the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” places me in the category of the pro-Putin right in America.
Such is the conclusion of journalist Eric Levitz writing for Vox online in a recent article titled, “The twisted appeal of Trump’s humiliation of Zelenskyy,” subtitled “Why some conservatives took pride in a national disgrace.”
Levitz surmises,
“The right’s enthusiasm for Zelenskyy’s [during the recent White House visit with President Donald Trump] humiliation has two distinct sources.
“First, among America’s most radical social conservatives, Putin’s Russia has long commanded admiration as an exemplar of traditional sexual morality, in an increasingly decadent (i.e., LGBTQ-friendly) world.
“Second, a broader cohort of contrarian commentators, isolationist intellectuals, and nationalistic voters believe that the benefits of aiding Ukraine are slim, while the tail-risks are catastrophic.”
As his article unfolds, Levitz reveals a decisive and elaborate connection between the World Congress of Families (WCF) and Vladimir Putin. Levitz cites a 2013 Russian “anti-propaganda” law banning the public promotion of gay rights. Levitz suggests that the World Congress of Families had something to do with that, largely in part because Russian oligarchs were, at the time, big financial contributors to the WCF.
So, I followed the breadcrumbs. After all, between early 1998 and late 2000, I was the executive vice-president of The Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society (THC), the founder of the World Congress of Families. While I had moved on to run the Sutherland Institute in December 2000, I remained a WCF insider for over a decade, even having planned for the WCF9 to be held in Salt Lake City in 2015.
I am proud of that association and my efforts on behalf of the WCF. I administered the second WCF in Geneva, Switzerland, setting the tone and example for several WCFs to follow. As a part of the WCF movement, I co-authored with THC and WCF founder Allan Carlson the book, The Natural Family: A Manifesto in 2007. I remained on the WCF executive committee through the ninth WCF and I participated in WCF programs held in Geneva, Warsaw, Amsterdam, and Sydney.
So, Levitz’s article caught my attention and I dug deeper down his narrative’s rabbit hole.
The next stop in Levitz’s narrative was a 2017 Politico article – an adaptation from a report entitled “The Rise of the ‘Traditionalist International’: How Moscow cultivates American white nationalists, domestic secessionists, and the Religious Right,” from People For the American Way – by Casey Michel who drew a deeper connection between Putin and American social conservatives. Michel’s springboard was a 2014 column in Townhall online by America Firster and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan titled “Whose Side is God on Now?,” wherein he wrote, “In the culture war for the future of mankind, Putin is planting Russia’s flag firmly on the side of traditional Christianity.”
Michel and then Levitz picked on this tidbit by Buchanan,
“This writer was startled to read in the Jan-Feb. newsletter from the social conservative World Council [sic] of Families in Rockford, Ill., that, of the “ten best trends” in the world in 2013, number one was “Russia Emerges as Pro-Family Leader.”
And,
“While the other super-powers march to a pagan worldview,” writes WCF’s Allan Carlson, “Russia is defending Judeo-Christian values. During the Soviet era, Western communists flocked to Moscow. This year, World Congress of Families VII will be held in Moscow, Sept. 10-12.”
You can find Michel’s full report at People for the American Way as well as here, here, and here. The Human Rights Campaign added in 2014 its report, “Exposed: The World Congress of Families – An American Organization Exporting Hate” and its 2015 update.
All in all – wow! I’d have never imagined that the WCF I helped to get off the ground in 1998 would come to dominate the world of Russian-American social policy in 2015. But there are facts and then there is truth. These opposition reports contain many undisputable facts, but they are a little light on truth – you know, the whole Paul Harvey “rest of the story” contextual stuff that turns myth into reality.
In all honesty, I was motivated to write this piece to cover my ass and also as an “I told you so” to a few of my former Sutherland Institute colleagues who entertained the 2015 WCF9 without me (as well as a few WCF folks since those days).
As I have written elsewhere in my books Unworthy and Defeated, just four hours after getting fired from Sutherland on August 15, 2014, I received a phone call from Sutherland’s board chairman asking me to stay on to run the WCF9 scheduled for October 2015. While I said no, I agreed to stay close in support of the event. It was my decision to stay at arm’s length of the WCF9, so when I say that the event went on without me, it was all my doing. But I had my reasons beyond sour apples from just having been fired from Sutherland.
Here is what I want to make clear: Not only did I have nothing to do with the WCF connections with Russia, I was an outspoken opponent of the relationship.
Still at an arms-length distance from the WCF9, a meeting was scheduled for March 17-19, 2015 at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, to discuss plans for WCF 9 and also to discuss selections for further WCF events. I was not interested in attending. Our family was taking a cruise the week before and that timing combined with my continuing reluctance to be intimately involved with the WCF at the time made me even less interested than normal.
But then I received outreach from two good friends asking, at times pleading with, me to attend the Fort Worth meeting. Larry Jacobs, a young man who followed me as executive vice-president of THC in the early 2000s and, by the time of the Fort Worth meeting, was listed as the “managing director” of the WCF, emailed me a formal invitation to attend. Privately, he pleaded with me to attend to bring some sort of stability to the proceedings.
At the same time, a very dear friend, Janice Crouse, to be anointed the “managing director” of the WCF9 at the Fort Worth meeting, also pled with me to attend. I knew the planning for the WCF9 was in disarray but I had no idea that WCF insiders (including Larry Jacobs) would be pushing for the WCF coalition to commit to holding an event in Moscow – although I did notice on Larry’s formal invitation to the Fort Worth meeting the name “Alexey Komov – WCF Russia; Russia Orthodox Church, Patriarch’s Commission for the Family.”
I won’t belabor describing the meeting in Fort Worth except to say, first, the plans for the WCF9 to be held in Salt Lake City later in 2015 truly were in disarray – only ideas, nothing set – and, second, a proposition was laid on the table to hold a WCF event in Moscow before the WCF9 event. The Moscow meeting would not be a full WCF conference.
Alexey Komov made his pitch. A WCF event in Moscow would have the full backing of Vladamir Putin, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Krill (Putin’s religious lapdog), and several oligarchs. No money need be expended by WCF – unless, of course, the Russians disapproved of suggested agenda items (i.e., anyone they did not like) and, if so, WCF could cover costs.
Komov was an arrogant and smug young man. I suppose not unexpected for such a young man to travel to America representing Russia’s power elite. When he was done with his presentation, many group participants were all set to go to Russia. And then I raised my hand.
I looked Komov in the eye and offered that, while his proposal was tempting for all of the same reasons starving beggars bow beneath the “compassion” of passers-by, I did not trust Komov personally and Russia in particular. They were awful human beings and for the WCF to hold an event in Moscow would be an insult to the long-standing WCF brand.
I was reminded that the WCF was founded when Allan Carlson met in Russia in 1997 with two Russian university professors. And he did and that meeting led to the first WCF in Prague that same year. But two open-minded university professors were a lot different than Putin, Krill, and the oligarchs. After all, Russia had just invaded Crimea in 2014, almost a year and a day prior to our Fort Worth conclave. Aggressive and unprovoked invasion of another country is quite a bit different than the WCF organizing model of bringing the world together.
Anyway, I stuck to my guns and argued that the WCF would be irresponsible to hold an event in Moscow. I need this point to be on the record. Yes, WCF leadership, but not all, traveled to a Russia-adjacent location – Tbilisi, Georgia – and ultimately accomplished what the few had set out to do: influence Russian social policy. I did not and spoke adamantly against it.
Of course, Putin ultimately just used them to validate his own social policies against homosexuals. But at the time, inclusion alone was enough for credit-seeking WCF leadership.
The progressive narrative about the “evils” of the WCF connection with Putin is probably spot on, or at least deserved given the embarrassing finagling of a few of the WCF inner circle. I do need to share that not everyone who traveled to Russia/Georgia is to blame for the organizational mistake. For instance, my dear friend, Janice Crouse attended but did so under pressure as she was just appointed to oversee the WCF9 in Salt Lake City that same year. Janice struggled with the decision to go.
The WCF was turned over to Brian Brown of the International Organization for the Family (IOF) during that same timeframe and WCF founder, Allan Carlson, was retiring. In other words, the WCF was no longer what it was. It went from the most sophisticated organizing model on the Right to just another thing that right-wingers do (poorly).
I was never a part of the WCF’s pilgrimage to Russia in 2015. Putin is an enemy of the United States. Always has been, always will be.