Mexico City has witnessed a massive march in support of traditional marriage and against gender ideology. Somewhere between 400,000 and 450,000 are estimated to have taken to the streets to participate in the ‘March for the Family’. A manifesto published by the march organisers stated: “We manifest our profound disagreement with gender ideology; an ideology that, lacking an objective foundation, seeks to impose itself in the laws, in schools, in families, in the media.” The march had the backing of Mexico’s Catholic Bishops and Pope Francis.

Saudi Arabia has deported 27 Christians for celebrating the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady. Despite the event taking place in a private home, Saudi authorities ordered the immediate removal of the group, all Lebanese Maronite Christians which included children, for engaging in “unIslamic prayer”. The Christians’ defence that no insult to Islam could be caused as the Koran lauds the Virgin Mary was ignored. The arrests and deportations come despite a commitment offered by Saudi Arabia in 2006 not to interfere with private worship by non-Muslims.

The Citizens’ Assembly will begin deliberating on Ireland’s abortion law on October 15. The assembly of 99 members and 99 substitutes will meet at the Grand Hotel, Malahide in Dublin on that date in a gathering chaired by Supreme Court Justice Mary Laffoy. Responding to news of the first meeting, the Pro-Life Campaign (PLC) called on the Government to be “honest with the public and admit the sole purpose of the Citizens’ Assembly on abortion is to clear the way for a referendum that would strip the unborn child of his/her right to life. For ministers to claim otherwise is to mislead the public.” Dr Ruth Cullen of the PLC added: “I’m not at all questioning the impartiality of the chairperson of the assembly… but the fact remains the assembly was brought about for political reasons.”

A columnist from The Times newspaper in Britain has launched a scathing attack on BBC Radio 4 for promoting gender ideology in the lives of children. Janice Turner criticised an interview on the station with a 10-year-old girl whose parents used the internet to conclude the child was ‘non-binary’ after she has asked for a “pirates birthday party, disdained dolls” and “liked Peter Pan”. Turner further criticised the interviewer for failing to ask the girl’s mother “whether asking every day ‘are you a boy or a girl?’ was good for her daughter’s mental health [or]whether it was appropriate to ask your 10-year-old ‘if you were a man would you be gay or straight?’” She concluded: “The BBC is allowing to enter the mainstream, unquestioned, a pernicious ideology that demands parents patrol their children for gender crimes – boys who like dolls, girls who climb trees – and then seek a label and treatment.”

A Bill in Britain aimed at curbing children’s access to online porn has received cross party support as it progresses through Parliament. Now at its second reading, the Digital Economy Bill places a responsibility on content providers to establish “robust age verification controls for online pornographic content in the UK”. The Bill also proposes that the government works with payment bodies such as Paypal towards a system whereby services be withdrawn from non-compliant websites. Welcoming the Bill, Labour MP Sarah Champion, said: “The scale of online abuse and exploitation, and the proliferation of pornography and violent sexualised imagery among children, has reached endemic levels. This Bill presents us with an opportunity to offer protection to all children, and I urge this House to do so.”