Red State Ends Pride Month, Institutes Pro-Family Celebration Instead

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed off on a resolution declaring June as “Nuclear Family Month,” a move that sets up a direct contrast with Pride Month and is already drawing backlash.

Lee approved the House joint resolution on April 9 after it cleared the state legislature, months after it was first introduced in February 2025. The House passed it in April, while the Senate signed off in March.

The measure frames the traditional family unit as foundational to society and warns that it is under threat.

“…The nuclear family, consisting of one husband, one wife, and any biological, adopted, or fostered children, is God’s design for familial structure and has been the bedrock of society since the creation of the world,” the resolution starts.

Tennessee lawmakers behind the resolution point to a series of statistics tied to fatherless homes, claiming such households are more likely to experience poverty, substance abuse, and mental health struggles. It also states that 60% of youth suicides come from fatherless homes, though the resolution does not cite sources for those figures.

The measure goes further, linking unstable family structures to school violence.

“…In a 2016 study by Peter Langman on the psychology behind fifty-six school shooters, eighty-two percent of the shooters were raised in an unstable family environment or without both biological parents together,” the resolution states.

The resolution argues “the nuclear family is under attack in our beloved State and nation,” and takes aim at global organizations, including the World Health Organization and the United Nations, accusing them of “promoting sterilization and abortion practices.”

Marriage trends cited in the resolution show broader cultural shifts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tennessee recorded about seven marriages per 1,000 people in 2023 and roughly three divorces per 1,000. Nationally, marriage rates have fallen from 8.2 per 1,000 in 2000 to 6.2 in 2022, while divorce rates dropped from 4.0 to 2.4 over the same period.

“Pride” advocates blasted the move as exclusionary.

“Resolutions like this do more to reveal the cluelessness of elected officials whose own families and those of their constituents have various family dynamics and structures,” a spokesperson for GLAAD said in a statement to The Advocate. “The strongest families are grounded by love. Lawmakers trying to exclude and intentionally harm some families should be recognized as actively harming all by not focusing their time working for an inclusive Tennessee where all are welcome and can succeed.”

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