Ohio Proposes Month Dedicated to Straight, Married Families

Do straight, married couples need a formal, state-sponsored celebration? Ohio politicians say yes, and they’re hoping that the new holiday will get couples in the mood for love.

Two dozen Ohio lawmakers and counting have signed onto a bill which would create “Natural Family Month,” a monthlong celebration situated between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day which exclusively celebrates married heterosexual couples.

Natural Family Month

State Reps. Beth Lear and Josh Williams introduced the bill, which they say is designed to reverse diminishing birth rates by uplifting marriage and families.

Though the bill doesn’t define the term “natural family,” statements made by the bill’s authors make it clear the LGBTQ+ community and unmarried couples aren’t included.

"At a time when marriage is trending downward and young couples are often choosing to remain childless, it's important for the State of Ohio to make a statement that marriage and families are the cornerstone of civil society,” reads a statement from Representative Lear.

There’s one group of Ohioans who won’t be dimming the lights and lighting scented candles for Natural Family Month: The LGBTQ+ community, who bill authors say the would-be holiday is specifically not celebrating.

“The purpose of the month is to promote natural families—meaning a man, a woman, and their children—as a way to encourage higher birth rates,” said a statement from Rep. Williams. “This is not about discriminating against other family structures, but about supporting the one most directly tied to the creation and raising of children.”

In other words, this is a “straights only” holiday.

"An Act of Erasure"

Natural Family Month has LGBTQ+ advocates fuming, and they say the bill is nothing but an attempt to minimize gay families at the expense of straight ones. Equality Ohio director Dwayne Steward says it is a “calculated act of strategic erasure.”

“It not only invalidates the existence of single parents and countless other caregivers, but it takes direct aim at LGBTQ+ families across our state,” he explained. “If you’re not a heterosexual, monogamous couple with children, you don’t count as a family at all.”  

Others argued that if Ohio politicians wanted to uplift families and raise the birthrate, they’re going to need to do better than a symbolic holiday.

“If this really is about declining birthrates, personally, I’d think affordable childcare, paid leave, healthcare and lower grocery costs would make people want to have kids,” stated Rachel Coyle, programs director for Ohioans Against Extremism. 

“But what do I know? Maybe all they need is a new month with a new name.”

Faith-Based Discrimination

While the proposal doesn’t specifically mention faith, the group pushing the proposal behind the scenes – the Natural Family Foundation (NFF) – appears to be a faith-based organization with a highly traditional, patriarchal view of families and child-rearing. 

“The family’s broken,” said NFF founder James Harrison in an interview last year. “I came to the realization that God didn’t make a mistake when he created the family as a first institution for the benefit of man,” he stated. “What does a Father in heaven mean to you if you don’t have one here on planet Earth?”

According to the NFF website, natural families are the “cornerstone of all civilization,” and families need a “clear male leader”. “When the fabric is torn and/or the social contracts become immoral, working against the traditional family,” their website reads, “then society as a whole is threatened with extinction.”

“Natural Family Month” is just one of many recent bills sprouting up across the country seeking to celebrate a straight, or white, or Christian status quo.

In this case, Ohio politicians want to celebrate a very narrow vision of the nuclear family, one which intentionally excludes unmarried couples and queer couples. And though they say it’s about reversing declining birthrates, critics say there are clearly other motives at play.

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