Ohio lawmakers want to designate a 'natural family' month, excluding LGBTQ families
Nearly 30 Republican lawmakers are backing a bill to recognize "natural families" that are led by straight men with children
- Ohio House Bill 262 seeks to designate a "Natural Family" month between Mother's and Father's Day.
- The bill defines "natural family" as heterosexual, cisgender, monogamous couples with biological or adopted children.
- The bill is supported by 28 Republican lawmakers and advocacy groups like the Liberty Action Network and Natural Family Foundation.
- Critics argue the bill excludes LGBTQ+ families and single-parent households.
More than two dozen Republican lawmakers are backing a bill to designate a "natural family" month to celebrate life-long committed heterosexual couples with children.
The House Bill 262, introduced May 13, would recognize the narrow definition of families for the weeks between Mother's Day and Father's Day.
The Liberty Action Network and Natural Family Foundation are pushing for recognition of straight, cisgendered, monogamous, couples with children.
The foundation says on its website that families must be led by males that come from the family's lineage.
In Ohio, roughly 254,000 households with children are headed by single women.
"Natural Families are our strength to make America great again. Strong families in homes, churches and communities are what is missing in our society today," the foundation says on its website. "One man, one woman and their children in a life time commitment; seemingly rare but needed to bring back to restore the foundation of our society, culture and strength of national unity."
The foundation asks supporters to pledge their belief that a natural family "consists solely of: one biological born man and one biological born woman committed in a lifelong monogamous relationship to include their biological and or adopted children."
A spokesman for the foundation wasn't immediately available to comment.
Equality Ohio, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, condemned the legislation as a "calculated act of strategic erasure."
"Ohio House Bill 262 is more than just bad policy—it is a calculated act of strategic erasure."
Equality Ohio Director Dwayne Steward said in a written statement: "It not only invalidates the existence of single parents and countless other caregivers, but it takes direct aim at LGBTQ+ families across our state....This bill is part of a national effort to police family structures and control birthing bodies, cloaked in the language of tradition but rooted in exclusion and control."
The bill comes on the brink of Pride month and the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage. Census data show 22,400 same sex married couples in Ohio.
Who is sponsoring HB 262?
The bill is sponsored by state Reps. Beth Lear, R-Galena, and Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Twp. It has 26 Republican cosponsors.
Lear's main focus this year has been culture war bills. She wants to prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public K-12 schools, require partisan labels for candidates for local school board races and block employers, colleges or other entities from denying service for anyone who refuses to be vaccinated or wear a mask.
Williams made headlines for introducing a bill that would make it a felony to plant a flag on the Block O at Ohio Stadium. That came after Ohio State Buckeyes lost to the Michigan Wolverines and a brawl broke out on the field.
And Williams reintroduced a bill that would criminalize drag performances in certain locations if it's considered obscene or harmful to juveniles and features performers who exhibit a gender identity different to the gender assigned at birth using "clothing, makeup, prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts, or other physical markers."
State government reporter Laura Bischoff can be reached at lbischoff@gannett.com and @lbischoff on X.