Bill to celebrate ‘Natural Family Month’ faces backlash, lawmakers fiercely defend legislation

LGBT advocates are furious that a proposed Ohio bill would celebrate “Natural Family Month” to promote childbearing and childrearing.

Introduced by Ohio state Reps. Beth Lear and Josh Williams, House Bill 262 would specifically designate the weeks between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day as “Natural Family Month.”

In a statement to NBC News, Williams explained that “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.”

“This is not about discriminating against other family structures, but about supporting the one most directly tied to the creation and raising of children,” he added.

LGBT advocates are, of course, furious because they feel discriminated against. Consider, for example, Vanessa Melendez, a lesbian who’s married to a woman and who takes care of her wife’s son from a previous marriage and a girl the two adopted.

“The elephant in the room on how they’ve positioned it is on the word ‘natural,’” she complained to local station WLWT. “And I think that what they’re saying is if there’s only one way to be a natural family, and that’s entirely not true.”

Listen:

(Video Credit: WLWT)

Melendez went on to allege that all families are natural and deserve celebration, including LGBT families, adopted families, IVF families, and single parents.

“They’re really coming after it at a very narrow, exclusionary way, and they’re only giving a description of one type of family,” she griped. “We don’t want to take away from that one type of family, but there’s so many other kinds of families.”

Williams didn’t care for her so-called logic.

“By that same logic that all families should be celebrated,” he told WLWT. “You could go then to June and say we shouldn’t have Pride Month because all sexual orientations should be celebrated, not just those that are alternative to the mainstream.”

Bingo. But it’s only ever a problem to activists and their media allies when NORMAL people want to be celebrated and recognized.

“We want to encourage a two-parent household because we see the detrimental effects of single motherhood rates in the black community at over 70 percent,” Williams continued.

“And we know the statistics that show that that results in a higher rate of poverty, a higher rate of dropping out of school, a higher rate of being on public assistance, a higher rate of engaging in criminal conduct,” he concluded.

All true.

This isn’t the first instance of a state going out of its way to promote families.

I proudly declare November as Family Month. Faith and family are at the heart of who we are, and what happens inside the home shapes the world outside. This month, let’s make it a priority to gather around the table, and spend time with those we love.

God bless you, and God… pic.twitter.com/rhdjSW4VEl

— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) November 4, 2024

Melendez wasn’t alone with her complaints. Dwayne Steward, the director of  the LGBT advocacy group Equality Ohio, reportedly described the bill as 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 said. “The so-called ‘Natural Family Foundation,’ the group pushing this legislation, has made their ideology clear: if you’re not a heterosexual, monogamous couple with children, you don’t count as a family at all.”

“As an adoptive parent myself, I feel this erasure personally. This bill is not just offensive; it’s dangerous,” he added.

In a press release, Lear and Williams fiercely defended their legislation.

“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, and absolutely imperative if we want to maintain a healthy and stable Republic,” Lear said.

“With America facing declining birth rates and a shrinking population, we can no longer afford to ignore the foundational role that strong families play in sustaining our future,” Williams added.

“H.B. 262 is about more than policy—it’s about promoting the economic and social stability that comes from raising children in healthy, two-parent households. We must use every tool at our disposal to support the families that are building the next generation of Americans,” he continued.

Senior Staff Writer
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

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