After years of accepting Pride Month programming as a fact of life every June, some Republican leaders in red states are trying to rebrand the month.
The governors of several GOP-led states have issued proclamations recognizing June in family-focused terms. In Indiana and Tennessee, the new “Nuclear Family Month” celebrates units made up of “one husband, one wife and any biological, adopted or fostered children.”
In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey’s proclamation of “Strong Families Month” recognizes that “Homes led by a father and mother provide children with the structure and discipline necessary to succeed throughout life.” Continuing with the theme, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt declared June “Life Month” as a way to “promote a culture that values and protects life … [which] includes strengthening families.”
And in Utah and Arkansas, “Fidelity Month” emphasizes “cultivating fidelity to God, family, community, and country … [which] supports a healthy, stable, well-ordered society.”
Rebranding June away from Pride Month changes what is being signaled as good and worthy of celebration in the culture.
The predictable accusations that will surely be launched against these proclamations are that they are little more than malignant red-state attacks against Pride Month and its “communities.” The implication is familiar: upholding that children should be raised by two parents in a stable marriage is itself harmful to the LGBTQIA+ community. (RELATED: What Does Defeating Pride Month Even Look Like?)
Conservatives have always understood that a healthy society depends on strong families and parents able to raise children within ordered communities. Conservatives should be promoting things that are good for the family and the public good over what is harmful to family structure, marriage, and child-rearing.
Rebranding June away from Pride Month changes what is being signaled as good and worthy of celebration in the culture. It also signals that there is something about Pride Month messaging that is fundamentally at odds with family values and formation.
It’s hard to deny that the public expressions of “Pride,” especially parades, often bring adult sexual themes into public spaces where children are present. One does not have to look far on the internet to find articles giving a defense for taking children to such events. For example, a “queer clinician, consultant, and educator” wrote, “While some events are more adult-focused, there’s no shortage of spaces where children can feel safe, celebrated, and included.” Some of these events have programs aimed at children specifically, while many make no distinction or firm boundary.
Conservatives have long realized that a culture that enables displays like an elderly man in underwear twerking in front of a group of children and parade floats of men in thongs, and treats them as normal, has no serious claim to being ordered toward the good of families.
The slew of proclamations this June calling Americans to celebrate the family over Pride is a good beginning. For the other eleven months of the year, conservatives must be dedicated to advocating policies that protect parental authority in schools and make it easier for young couples to marry, afford homes, and raise children. If conservative leaders want the movement to make June about the family to gather steam, it must be rooted in tangible policy and not left as gimmicky, culture-war sloganeering.
Henry Zavalick is an editorial intern at The American Spectator.
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