Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has signed a declaration declaring June to be known as Nuclear Family Month. In the USA June is when Pride is celebrated in the lead up to the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots of 1969.
Governor Lee, who is a member of the Republican Party, says the month should be a celebration of families, but only those who fit into a biblical definition of a family. Tennessee had formally recognised Pride month since 1999.
The amendment to the state’s recognised celebrations defines a nuclear family as “consisting of one husband, one wife, and any biological, adopted, or fostered children,” saying such a family “is God’s design for familial structure and has been the bedrock of society since the creation of the world.”
The amendment also includes a warning about families that are not headed by a father saying that children who grow up without fathers or in homes where their parents are not together are more likely to experience poverty, abuse chemical substances, have mental health and behavioral issues and end up incarcerated.
The long debunked claim that children’s fare better with both a married father and mother living together was pushed in Australia during the debate about allowing same-sex marriage. The Marriage Alliance, part of the NO campaign against marriage equality made similar claims.
US advocacy group GLAAD have described the amendment as “clueless”.
“The strongest families are grounded in love, not legislative definitions. It is disturbing to see lawmakers use their platform to intentionally exclude their own constituents,” the organisation wrote in a statement.
“Instead of drafting resolutions that aim to divide Tennessee families, Gov. Lee should be focused on building a state where every family is treated fairly and every child has the opportunity to succeed.”
