It’s Still True That Love Makes a Family: GLAD Law’s Response to the ‘Greater Than’ Campaign  

The latest campaign attacking LGBTQ+ families and marriage equality – coming from a coalition of organizations that have opposed equality for decades – rehashes old, debunked arguments. While we know this playbook – and know it won’t succeed – the campaign now smears any family that doesn’t fit their one narrow definition of what a family should look like and how they bring children into those families. It’s still true that love makes a family. 

Children in this country are raised by single parents, LGBTQ+ parents, people who start and grow their families with fertility care like IVF, step-parents, adoptive parents, widowed parents, divorced parents, and by trusted caregivers in other family structures. Our society benefits when all loving, caring people can become parents and nurture the next generation. What matters most for children is the presence of caring, committed adults, stable homes, community support, and access to resources. 

This coalition isn’t about supporting and protecting all families, but about denigrating the millions of Americans whose children didn’t result from a married and genetically connected mother and father. The reality is that millions of US children are raised by loving parents in loving families, but bizarrely, they are now being told they are not a real family. Expect people to be outraged by this because it is outrageous. Equal treatment under the law is essential to children’s well-being, and strong legal family ties ensure children can rely on their parents for the care, protection, decision-making, and stability they need, and that means respecting families as they are, and equal treatment for children regardless of how they landed with the parent or parents who love them. 

Let’s be clear – this salvo is not an immediate threat to Obergefell, which the US Supreme Court just declined to revisit in November. But there are politicized efforts to stir the pot on marriage equality. GLAD Law has fought for LGBTQ+ people, our children, and our families for 50 years, and we will continue to protect the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ Americans and all Americans. We and our allies remain prepared to defend the freedom to marry from any and all challenges.  

Marriage equality is deeply integrated into American life. It enjoys strong public support from a bipartisan majority of Americans because it is positive for families and children and their larger communities. Moreover, the data is clear: children of LGBTQ+ parents, like all children, thrive in homes with one or more adults who love and care for them. 

We are past the day when we will deprive children of vital protections, rights, and the security of their parents’ love simply because we disapprove of their parents. Let’s focus on collective efforts to strengthen conditions that help all children succeed, rather than punishing and demeaning families based on how they were formed.

Learn more about GLAD Law’s marriage equality work.