An anti-civil unions roadshow organised by an American religious-right organisation has passed by this week almost unnoticed. The Marriage Matters roadshow was organised by Focus on the Family New Zealand, who declared in their promotional material that marriage was “under attack”, that civil unions have the “potential to seriously undermine Marriage as the building block of society” and that “Christians can play a strategic role in warming society to the concept of Christian marriage”. Speakers at the rally included United Future MP Larry Baldock and Ian Grant of Parenting with Confidence, who has a weekly two-hour show on Newstalk ZB called Real Life. He recently said homosexuals deserved compassion because they were suffering “brokenness” in their lives. Keynote speaker was Dr Bill Maier, from Focus on the Family's parent branch in the US. He has attacked US supermarket chain Wal-Mart for including gays and lesbians in its employee policies, and is an advocate of “ex-gay” therapy. Maier was also a guest on Grant's Newstalk ZB talkback show, although no opportunity was given for callers to rebut his views.