One of the great ironies of modern conservative thought is that the same people who demand virtually no government oversight in matters of business, commerce and taxation also advocate broad state interference in some of our most personal decisions.
Consider marriage, for example. If you marry, who you marry, how you structure your marriage and if you stay married would seem to be matters best left to you and your partner.
The Heritage Foundation and other backers of Project 2025 don’t see it that way. Under their Christian Nationalist-backed scheme to remake the federal government along theocratic lines, certain marriages would receive priority, while others wouldn’t even qualify as marriages.
Project 2025 calls for “a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family,” which the playbook defines narrowly as “heterosexual, intact marriage.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the project says, should “proudly state that men and women are biological realities” and that “married men and women are the ideal, natural family structure because all children have a right to be raised by the men and women who conceived them.” The department, the plan insists, spends too much time focusing on “‘LGBTQ+ equity,’ subsidizing single-motherhood, disincentivizing work, and penalizing marriage. These policies should be repealed and replaced by policies that support the formation of stable, married, nuclear families.”
To buttress heterosexual, patriarchal families, Project 2025 calls for the development of “faith-based programs that incorporate local churches and mentorship programs … [that] affirm and teach fathers based on a biological and sociological understanding of what it means to be a father – not a gender-neutral parent.”
Despite what you might have read, Project 2025 does not call for repealing no-fault divorce laws (although some Christian Nationalist groups favor that), but the gist here is clear: Some marriages and some family arrangements are better than others. And bubbling not far below the surface is an idea embraced by tyrants everywhere: Women should confine themselves to “traditional” roles and focus on producing children.
Here’s a better idea: Let’s acknowledge the reality that relationships and families come in many forms. Instead of elevating what the Heritage Foundation and its allies deem to be proper “biblically based” marriages, let’s include everyone, no matter who they choose to marry. Let’s support all those who are going through difficult times of separation and family realignment.
In short, let’s boost all families, no matter how they are structured and regardless of whether the promoters of Project 2025 consider them legitimate or not.
