My thoughts on so-called “Nuclear Family Month.”

By Anne Gregg

On June 1st, Indiana Governor Mike Braun proclaimed June as “Nuclear family month.” Earlier this year, governor Bill Lee signed a similar resolution declaring June as nuclear family month in the state of Tennessee. In his proclamation, Braun defined a nuclear family as “consisting of one husband, one wife, and any biological, adopted, or fostered children, is God’s design for the family structure and has been the foundation of society since the creation of the world.” The nuclear family is not the foundation of society. I’m fairly confident early humans did not live in individual family units of husband, wife, and children.

Braun contradicts his own definition of a nuclear family in his proclamation, stating research (while not citing any research) shows that kids are better off living with their biological parents — ie not adoptive or foster parents. Braun asserts that when families weaken — which I assume means when they do not adhere to a nuclear family structure — the state has to provide additional support by investing money in welfare systems. We Hoosiers shouldn’t have our tax dollars wasted on education or childcare, we should have them go towards installing a helipad at Braun’s Jasper County home. Braun also fails to recognize that many “nuclear” families still need government assistance to get by in a state that still has a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Living in a single family home does not secure wealth. Those who have financial security are more capable of living in single family homes and supporting nuclear families.

Conservatives posit that the nuclear family and traditional American values are under attack. Only 18% of Hoosier households are married couples with children. But what is attacking them? Queer people are not advocating for the rights of nuclear families to be taken away. We just want the right to live our lives and form our own families. To conservatives like Braun, dissent is an attack, non-conformity is an assault. The rich who refuse to raise wages and pay their fair share of taxes, are the ones attacking the nuclear family.

There is nothing wrong with a family being a husband, wife, and 2 ½ kids. There is everything wrong with idealizing it, with spreading rhetoric that the “nuclear family” is the only correct way a family should look. The concept of a nuclear family is one of white upper middle class suburbia. It is individual, capitalistic unit, responsible for only itself, not its neighbors or community.

If Braun wanted to support nuclear families he could do more than put forth declarations. He could put more resources into affordable housing, and childcare, He could work towards creating a statewide universal healthcare plan. Instead, he’ll blame queer, non-white, and non-traditional families for wasting our tax dollars. But Braun’s proclamation is empty. It is also it is homophobic, racist, and classist; not because it supports nuclear families, but because it degrades and delegitimizes all families that are not.

Some queer people want a single family home, a partner, two kids, and a dog. But we shouldn’t have to appeal to Braun’s imaginary traditional family standards to be accepted. No one should. The nuclear family is welcome at Pride.

In many ways, LGBTQ+ Pride is a celebration of family, because it’s a celebration of love. And all good families are built on a foundation of love. Pride is a party, a protest, and a beacon. Our celebration, our fight signals to other queer people that there is a place for them to be loved and accepted, there is a family, a community for them. Queer people get to choose our families. We get to build lives with people we love and accept and people who love and accept us. The family we build can look nuclear, but most families, even non-queer ones don’t.

Family units are not as simple as husband, wife, son, daughter. They are grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. They are single parents doing their best and community support. I celebrate families that care about each other and love each other, and that is not exclusive to a nuclear family, it’s not even a requirement of nuclear families by Braun’s own definition.

Every American, regardless of sexuality, has been taught to strive for the nuclear family, that if we don’t attain it are failures, that if we don’t want it, we’re immoral. Queer people have been told our families are wrong, and that we cannot be accepted in the land of white picket fences and suburban domesticity.

LGBTQ+ Pride month is not an attack on the nuclear family. It’s a celebration of family and community in all its forms, and it is a protest against people like Braun who believe that their conservative christian nationalist way of living is the only way to live.

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About the Author

Anne Gregg is a poet and writer from Northwest Indiana. She is an English Writing major at DePauw University and is the editor-in-chief of her campus’s literary magazine, A Midwestern Review. She is a Media Fellow at her university and loves dissecting how LGBTQ+ people are portrayed in film and tv.