Pride Month celebrates love in all its forms. Yet, Ohio lawmakers are trying to undermine non-traditional, unmarried, single-parent and LGBTQ+ families by pushing House Bill 262 to establish “Natural Family Month.”
There is nothing I am prouder of than my family − my same-sex partner, adopted eldest child and three children my partner gave birth to and raised as a single parent for years. I will never allow my children to feel that our family is unnatural or lesser than. This “holiday” would be a spit in the face to Ohio’s approximately 557,000 LGBTQ+ individuals and over 490,000 single-parent households.
If lawmakers wanted to promote healthy families, they would preserve the child tax credit, properly fund children’s and social services programs, address maternal and infant mortality and prioritize everyday Ohioans’ financial concerns over tax cuts for the wealthy. Instead, they are working to push 770,000 Ohioans off Medicaid, which supports 39% of all childbirths in the state.
This bill is a useless proclamation of ill-advised and exclusionary priorities rather than the sweeping policy changes necessary to support healthy, thriving families in Ohio. I strongly encourage lawmakers to reject HB 262.
Danielle Firsich, Akron, Director of Public Policy for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio and Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: I won’t let Ohio lawmakers tell my children their family is unnatural | Letter
Reporting by Letters to the editor / Cincinnati Enquirer
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