Republican governor Mike Braun declares June ‘Nuclear Family Month’ in Indiana

Another year, another Republican turning Pride Month into something else. This time, the governor of Indiana has declared June to be ‘Nuclear Family Month’ in his state.

Mike Braun issued the new proclamation on 1 June – the first day of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, no less – declaring that the month will celebrate the “nuclear family”.

“As a father of four and grandfather of seven, I have seen firsthand the impact that loving, committed families can have across multiple generations,” he wrote in an X post with the proclamation attached.

“As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, this proclamation recognises the important role families play in shaping the future of our state and our country. Indiana will continue supporting policies that strengthen families and help the next generation thrive.”

The document itself says the nuclear family is “consisting of one husband, one wife, and any biological, adopted or fostered children, is God’s design for the family structure and has been the foundation of society since the creation of the world”.

It goes on to say that “research reports that children living with their married, biological parents have better physical and emotional well-being”, and “when families weaken, society must compensate with expensive, inferior approaches such as welfare systems, schools as surrogate parents, and police as surrogate discipline”.

Micah Beckwith, a pastor and the lieutenant governor of Indiana, went one step further by sharing an illustrated version of the proclamation on social media, with the title: “Take back the rainbow!”

‘Just say you hate gay people’

Braun’s post received some backlash on social media, with one user writing: “So weird – all these efforts to try and distract from Pride month.”

Another wrote: “Just say you hate gay people, it will be less words.”

“What policies are you enacting to actually help families? Paid maternity leave? Anything? Or this is just you being a homophobic piece of s*** grandstanding with a bill that means nothing?” a third wrote.

However, the proclamation also received approval from others. “See, here is something good in all the craziness,” one person wrote. “[I] wish more states would do something similar, I am tired of June being celebrated as perverted month.”

Following the response, Braun told reporters on 2 June that the proclamation was intended to send “no message other than the nuclear family is important”.

“You’re going to have others that might say otherwise, but that’s not the case,” he said, claiming that it wasn’t a message to same-sex couples, divorced parents or other types of families.

The proclamation also received pushback from Indiana’s Democratic lawmakers. In a statement to Capital Chronicle, spokesperson Sam Barloga said: “Hoosiers are done with the constant culture wars from the Beckwith-Braun administration.”

He continued: “Thousands of families are losing out because this administration turned down federal summer meal program dollars. Hoosiers need real pro-family fighters at the Statehouse. It’s time for a state government that supports every Hoosier family.”

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