Conceiving a “Natural Family” Order: The World Congress of Families and Transnational Conservative Christian Politics DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Rita J. Trimble Graduate Program in Comparative Studies The Ohio State University 2014 Dissertation Committee: Professor Debra Moddelmog, Advisor Professor Tanya Erzen, Co-Advisor Professor Mytheli Sreenivas Professor Hugh Urban Copyright by Rita J. Trimble 2014 Abstract This dissertation focuses on the World Congress of Families (WCF), a transnational network of “pro-family” organizations striving to influence global sexual and gender norms. Previous scholarship characterizes WCF as a particular subset of the US Christian Right that has the makings of a global social movement. By contrast, I argue that WCF provides the intellectual core of a still-emerging transnational pro-family movement—albeit primarily a Euro-American one—comprised of organizations associated with intertwined networks of Catholic, Mormon, and Protestant Evangelical organizations. The alliance consolidates around the “natural family,” a heteronormative, marital, procreative, conservative Christian model. This dissertation investigates the affective and intellectual resonance of natural family discourse across various constituencies. It traces WCF materials, activities, interactions, and strategies around human rights issues related to population, sexuality, reproductive rights, marriage, women’s rights, LGBT equality, and religious freedom. These issues are hotly contested in international debates and interact with complex questions related to immigration, economic disparities, national sovereignty, and Western economic and cultural imperialism. I examine how these contestations overlap and combine in natural family discourse. My project builds on and extends earlier scholarship in at least two important ways. First, it provides more extensive contextualization for the rise of a transnational pro-family movement. I ground the WCF worldview and activism in a longer history of US Christian beliefs and organizing centered on “the family.” My analysis engages affect theory, conceiving emotions not as psychological states, but as social and cultural practices, highlighting emotions ii that matter in WCF’s global sexual politics. As such, my work illuminates the importance of emotions for transnational pro-family activism. A second contribution of this project is to provide a crucial update on recent pro-family activities, strategies, and inroads in the global civic sphere. US-based pro-family organizations like the Family Research Council, Alliance Defending Freedom, Concerned Women of America, Focus on the Family, Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (CFAM), and United Families International are key players, but support increasingly comes from outside the US, especially from Europe. WCF has successfully knit together new alliances and increased the frequency of WCF gatherings. These accomplishments warrant understanding WCF as central in a pro-family transnational movement, rather than a mere subset of the US Christian Right. WCF activities have become more coordinated, organized, and institutionalized in the past decade. Framing messages that resonate across various boundaries to build a broad coalition is a hallmark of Christian Right organizing, and WCF brings that skill to global politics. WCF gatherings and partnerships have helped shape a pro-family discourse that operates beyond US Christian Right arenas—especially among conservative Christians—in countries like Spain, Poland, and Russia which are experiencing declining fertility rates. I expect this research to contribute to debates on global biopolitics and the role of international civic engagement, as well as deliberations on balancing the protection of religious, sexual, and other competing human rights. iii Dedication For my family…in the broadest sense of the word… iv Acknowledgments I wish to thank my dissertation committee, especially co-advisors, Debra Moddelmog and Tanya Erzen, for their guidance and intellectual support throughout the dissertation process. Professor Erzen’s classes and scholarship have inspired my thinking and helped launch my academic journey. Her direction has been fundamental in my progress throughout. Professor Moddelmog’s queer theory course intensified my interest in sexuality studies, which became central to my work. Her wise advice and meticulous feedback have been vital in my success. I am thankful to Mytheli Sreenivas for teaching the course that helped me connect the dots between gender, family, and nationalism. I have also benefited from her expertise and valuable conversations about population politics. Similarly, Hugh Urban’s instruction in theorizing religion, as well as follow-up discussion, has been indispensable to my understanding of this project. I could not ask for better mentors than my committee members. I also owe a deep debt of gratitude for departmental support from current and former Comparative Studies colleagues and friends, including Philip Armstrong, Nina Berman, Tom Kasulis, Morgan Liu, Margaret Lynd, Elizabeth Marsch, Dan Reff, Brian Rotman, Maurice Stevens, Ruby Tapia, Shu-Wen Tsai, Julia Watson, and Lori Wilson. I especially appreciate the encouragement, advice, and friendship of fellow travelers in grad school. RaShelle Peck has been a dissertation writing partner extraordinaire; her reading and responses to draft after draft of each chapter and our ongoing dialogue have made all the difference. My project has benefited from years of rich intellectual exchanges with Sande Garner, who has also offered wise counsel on academic life beyond grad school. Along with Sande, Kate Dean-Haidet and Peggy Reynolds v have constituted an incredibly supportive Fab 4 cohort. Rebecca Adelman was and continues to be a peerless peer mentor. And I have enjoyed numerous scholarly and not so scholarly exchanges with Lindsay Bernhagen, Jennifer Black, Mike McVicar, Wamae Muriuki, Beth Shively, Nicole Rearick Vangas, and Lee Wiles. Finally, I also gratefully acknowledge the immense contributions of family and friends, without whose encouragement and patience I would never have made it: Andy Berisford, the Mountain Women, Kim Gignac, and my “Griswold” clan—my parents, Robbie and family, Nancy, James, Terry, Tyler, Tory, and most especially Tom. vi Vita 1980 .................................................................. B.S. English Education, The Ohio State University 2008 .................................................................. M.A. Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University 2006 to present .................................................. Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University Publications “The Threat of Demographic Winter: A Transnational Politics of Motherhood and Endangered Populations in Pro-Family Documentaries,” in Feminist Formations, 25(2), 30-54. Fields of Study Major Field: Comparative Studies vii Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ............................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................................... v Vita ........................................................................................................................................................ vii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 The Globalization of Sexual Politics ................................................................................................... 11 Globalization of US Conservative Christian Activism ......................................................................... 18 Overview of Methods and Remaining Chapters ................................................................................... 24 Affective Power in a Conservative Christian Family Worldview.......................................................... 35 Defending the Family in the Divinized Home: The Emergence of Christian Fundamentalists in the Early 1900s ................................................................................................................................................. 43 Defending Family Values: The Emergence of the Christian Right in the 1970s ................................... 50 Defending the Natural Family: The Emergence of WCF’s Global Pro-Family Movement in the Mid- 1990s ................................................................................................................................................. 61 Chapter 3: Marriage Makes a Family “Natural” ...................................................................................... 79 A Familiar Order ................................................................................................................................ 84 The Gravity of Wedded Bliss .............................................................................................................. 95 Faith in a “Natural Family” Economy ..............................................................................................