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Croatia votes overwhelmingly to ban 'gay marriage' despite intimidation tactics

Voters ignore pressure from government, media, activists (and even US State Dept).

POSTED: December 9, 2013

On Sunday, Dec. 1, the people of Croatia overwhelmingly voted to ban "gay marriage" in that country. A constitutional amendment was passed by 66%-34%. This was despite enormous pressure from the Croation government, the press, homosexual activists, and even the US State Department to reject it.

The force of the church and the people

This was accomplished entirely by the church and the citizens of Croatia. Earlier this year the government drafted a bill that would allow same-sex couples to register as "life partners." People correctly saw this as the first step toward legalizing same-sex "marriage" -- as happened recently in Hawaii and earlier in California and many other places.

Approximately 90% of the Croatians are Catholic. The Catholic Church stepped up and organized for a referendum to amend the Constitution to ban "gay marriage" entirely. Other religious groups also got involved. Over 15 days they gathered nearly three-quarters of a million signatures to put it on the ballot. It was an outstanding effort!

Threats and harassment

Government leaders, the press, with the homosexual movement went right to work to try to stop it. They began a campaign of intimidation, including vicious labeling of pro-marriage supporters as "haters, fascists, Nazis, bigots", etc. They portrayed Christian believers in marriage as uneducated and primitive. Public supporters of the amendment were harassed by the government in various ways. It was reminiscent of the old days under Communism, many said.

Homosexual activists -- guarded by riot police -- paraded in cities and at the Parliament with signs excoriating supporters of the measure.

The U.S. government even got involved. In On Oct. 24 a US State Department official came to Croatia and gave a chilling speech about how committed the US is to promoting the LGBT movement. He went on to describe how the State Department helps fund LGBT activism in other countries around the world where it's needed, and is "engaging international organizations" to support LGBT rights. (To Americans, that is extemely offensive and insulting. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration gets away with that because the GOP and the conservative movement are afraid to complain about it.)

People ignore pressure and vote

But in the end, the people weren't stopped. Despite the huge pressure not to vote, or to vote against it, the people came to the polls and sent a strong message to their politicians, the press, the homosexual movement -- and the world.

Weak, biased coverage in mainstream media

Not surprisingly, unlike recent legislative votes in Hawaii and Illinois where the politicians voted to impose "gay marriage" on the people, this pro-family victory was not widely covered -- or celebrated --by the press in the US.

And most of the European press coverage, such as BBC and EuroNews was very biased and slanted toward the "gay" point of view.

But this report from C-Fam (Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute) tells what really happened:

Observations on the Croatia victory

Why has the "gay marriage" freight train been stopped in so many Eastern European countries -- Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Poland, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary? We think there are some interesting observations from watching the Croatia situation:

1. Memories of Communism. It's been only about 25 years since the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. People still have that experience in them. They're used to their political leaders, the nation's press, and their government being disconnected from the people and supporting destructive programs. They're used to being threatened if they get out of line, and seeing people demeaned and demonized by those in power.
   
   And they watched as the Communist regime all came crashing down, much of that as a result of people finally standing up to it. So standing up to political pressure and intimidation is something they viscerally understand.
2. Strong Church influence. Since Communism fell, the Roman Catholic Church, as well as Orthodox and other churches have become a strong part of society. Thus, the government's attempts to impose atheistic changes to society are more difficult.
3. No "conservative" movement like the West. Unlike the United States and Britain, Eastern Europe's pro-family energy is not dominated by a lumbering "conservative movement" that gets distressed when demonized and seeks respect, harmony, moderation, and eventual compromise when faced with confrontation from the Left. Over the last 60 years the modern conservative movement has evolved in the West, and there is no Eastern European equivalent to that. As a result, the pro-family movement in Eastern Europe has the ideological freedom and energy to take on bold challenges without needless emotional and intellectual baggage holding it back.

It's something we in America must learn from as we move forward.