Traditional Family Event Planned in Salt Lake City Gets Backlash

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Organizers of conservative organization planning a worldwide conference in Utah this fall are scheduled to be in Salt Lake City Tuesday to promote the event.

The World Congress of Families' four-day gathering planned for Salt Lake City in October has generated backlash from LGBT groups. The Rockford, Illinois-based organization says it brings together people of different religions and ethnicities to promote the "natural human family," which it believes consists of a man and woman raising children.

It opposes homosexuality and abortion and is on the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of hate groups for its anti-LGBT views. The Human Rights Campaign, which supports gay rights and gay marriage, accuses the group of being a network of extremist groups that has been working to promote anti-LGBT rhetoric and legislation abroad.