PIERRE, South Dakota (LifeSiteNews) — A Democrat lawmaker in South Dakota is under fire for declaring it “dangerous” and “un-American” to believe that children should have both a mother and a father.
On Monday, State Rep. Erin Healy tweeted, “Extremist group Family Heritage Alliance said this morning that the safest place for kids are in families that have a married mom and dad. What a dangerous and un-American belief,” apparently in reaction to comments against an unsuccessful bill to remove sex-specific language from South Dakota’s legal definition of marriage.
Extremist group Family Heritage Alliance said this morning that the safest place for kids are in families that have a married mom and dad. What a dangerous and un-American belief.
— Representative Erin Healy (@RepErinHealy) February 13, 2023
The grip from fundamentalist groups who only believe in nuclear families is strong at our state legislature today. I am disgusted by the extremist opposition we heard today and disappointed we couldn't pass such a simple, important bill. https://t.co/rxVInLTGjA
— Representative Erin Healy (@RepErinHealy) February 13, 2023
Family Heritage Alliance, a group dedicated to pro-life, pro-faith, and pro-family policies in the Mount Rushmore State, responded in a statement to Fox News that Healy “has completely disregarded what we know to be true about children and families. Growing up in the home of a married biological mother and father is the single largest predictor of success later in life. It’s highly ironic that she describes a well-known fact about child safety as dangerous and un-American.”
A substantial amount of social science literature supports the conviction that children are best served by homes with both a mother and a father, as each sex tends to bring unique strengths and emphases to parenting, which complement one another; and gives children a positive role model of their own sex as well as helping them understand and relate to the opposite sex. By contrast, a homosexual male couple would by definition lack a mother, and a lesbian couple would be unable to provide a father.
Children from fatherless homes are more likely to do poorly in school, join a gang, commit crimes, and be imprisoned, multiple studies show. @A1Policy https://t.co/Vf5iR2Bapr
— Tony Perkins (@tperkins) February 15, 2023
Over two-thirds of adolescents with same-sex married parents reported that they had been forced to have sex against their will at one point. @ThemBeforeUs https://t.co/4bfK21aeZB
— Tony Perkins (@tperkins) February 15, 2023
Actually, when it comes to abuse, the safest place for kids is an intact, biological married family. See, e.g., this federal report on child abuse and neglect: https://t.co/WT8B2ubXUz https://t.co/eYzEyAYREX pic.twitter.com/am150tbco3
— Brad Wilcox (@BradWilcoxIFS) February 14, 2023
Healy’s tweet received substantial pushback from conservatives on social media:
Is a single-parent household safer than a two-parent household?
It’s a proven fact that an intact, two-parent household, has a number of significant and positive impacts on a child’s present and future well-being. https://t.co/bbkCNwNZk1
— Concerned Women for America LAC (@CWforA) February 15, 2023
It's been the standard American belief since literally the founding of the country.
— Fredgiblet 🇺🇸 (@fredgiblet) February 14, 2023
Translation:
The state owns your children and you are the temporary custodian with the emphasis on temporary.
This is who rules over you. https://t.co/v0RWeUR3JH
— Doochebag (@MalcolmRenoldz) February 15, 2023
Earlier this month, Healy also proposed legislation to exempt menstrual products for “people who menstruate” from the state sales tax, drawing similar scrutiny for her rhetorical ode to gender fluidity:
You deprive women of basic dignity by reducing us to our bodily functions & referring to us as “people who menstruate”. No, we are not just people who menstruate, we are women! Natural born & uniquely made women. #RevTN
— TN Perspective (@SpeakinFromTN) February 14, 2023
This week, South Dakota banned the practice of chemically or surgically “transitioning” minors to a facsimile of the opposite sex. Last year, the state prohibited gender-confused biological males from participating in female-specific school athletic programs.