The resolution, signed in April by Gov. Bill Lee, defines the family as one husband and one wife, and their children.
In a not-so-subtle dig at so-called “Pride Month,” the resolution states the nuclear family is “God’s design” that has been the “bedrock of society since the creation of the world.”
That wording didn't go unnoticed by homosexual activists, who said in a statement Tennessee legislators are trying to "exclude and intentionally harm" other families.
Cameron Sexton, speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, told “Washington Watch” our governments should pass laws and make policies that help two-parent families remain under the same roof.
The current social system of food stamps and health care, he said, is designed for people to remain single. That wrongly sets people up to get penalized financially for getting married and starting a family.
Related to that single-parent problem, the resolution states children from a fatherless home are four times more likely to live in poverty, and 10 times more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol.
“We want to recognize the importance of the nuclear family and then try to right the ship,” Sexton said “That's what's best for Tennessee, best for America, and that's really what God really wants us to do as well."
The resolution doesn’t appear to address divorce, which also splits up homes. The current divorce rate in the U.S. is 41% for first-time marriages according to the CDC National Center for Health Statistics. That figure jumps to 60% for second marriages.
The measure passed the state House of Representatives 72-18, and the state Senate by 26-4.
