To get an idea of just what "family" legislation John Welch is committed to enacting we need simply to turn to the Family Foundation for guidance:
Delegate John Welch claims to support "family values." He says he was named "Family Foundation Legislator of the Year." But what does that really mean?Well, if we apply Family Foundation standards, we must conclude that John Welch is working hard for the families in his district that are comprised of a married couple who are the biological parents of two children sharing a common dwelling and dividing work by gender. Daddy works outside the home and the little woman is a homemaker. How nice.
The reality is it's 2007, not the 1950's. Today only 16% of all American families comprise what the time-warped John Welch considers to be the typical American family. Welch ignores the fact that the other 84% of families in his district are cohabiting families (mommy and daddy are not married), single-parent families, families in which both parents work outside the home, blended families and stepfamilies created by divorce and remarriage, grandparent-led families, and families in which the adult(s) are lesbian or gay. How not nice.
To get an idea of just what "family" legislation John Welch is committed to enacting we need simply to turn to the Family Foundation for guidance:
Protect the institution of traditional marriage:
1. Pass a state constitutional amendment protecting the definition of marriage
2. Reduce the number of non-traditional arrangements by 5 percent
3. Prevent the equalization of homosexuality in state policy
What's missing from these goals? It's obvious. These goals only attempt to limit the way a family is structured. They do nothing to support or strengthen the critical role all good families, of all kinds, play in the lives of their members, particularly children.
After all, why should John Welch legislate for the benefit of children in families that don't conform to his narrow preconceptions? Does he believe non-traditional families should be condemned or eradicated? Are these families bad, evil, a reflection of an immoral society in Welch's warped world?
ALL families are helped by good schools, good day care, good health care, and good economic policy. But that's not what Welch and the Family Foundation mean by "family values." They mean just some families, not all families.
Families are better defined by what the people in them do for each other than by the way they are structured. They deserve to be protected and nurtured in all their diversity. They deserve better than John Welch.