🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
In his concurring opinion overturning Roe vs. Wade earlier this summer, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas made clear, in no uncertain terms, whom he hoped the court would target next: the LGBTQ+ community. The same legal argument that overturned a constitutional right to an abortion, he wrote, should also apply to Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 court decision that established the right to same-sex marriage nationwide.
Justice Thomas' remarks sent shock waves through the LGBTQ+ community, and pushed lawmakers to introduce the Respect for Marriage Act into Congress this past summer—which has earned bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress. If passed, the bill will grant some federal protections to same-sex marriage even if Obergefell is overturned.
It's encouraging to see how quickly lawmakers have moved to reaffirm our right to marry and love who we want. What better time than LGBTQ+ History Month, which takes place each October, to bring a similar level of enthusiasm to efforts that will create new rights for our families as well, such as a nationwide parental leave policy inclusive of everyone.
The United States continues to be one of a handful of countries without a nationwide paid parental leave policy, which has a negative impact on the health of LGBTQ+ parents as well as families, society and the economy as a whole.
To be sure, marriage equality—just like paid parental leave—is incredibly important for LGBTQ+ people who are or hope to become parents. Without federal protections, some states may once again make marriage a prerequisite to adopt or become foster parents. Non-biological and non-birthing parents, similarly, may once again be legal strangers to their children.
An overwhelming majority of Americans support marriage equality, with more than 70 percent of the country supporting our right to marry. This number shows that our country is no longer divided on this issue as it once was. Anti-LGBTQ+ advocates know these statistics as well as we do, and have since moved on to attacking even more vulnerable segments of our population, like transgender children. It's time to codify marriage equality as the law of the land, and then turn our attention to similarly important issues that will benefit LGBTQ+ kids and families. That is where the fight for parental leave comes in.
There is hope for parental leave—some state, local and private entities already provide the benefit. However, these policies often treat non-birthing and adoptive parents less generously—groups disproportionately made up of queer men. A Ball State University study of Fortune 500 companies found nearly half of those offering paid parental leave offered twice as much paid time off to moms than dad.
A treasure trove of research extols the virtues of paid parental leave, and the benefits such policies have for children, parents, and entire communities. Research shows paid leave leads to improved health outcomes for birthing parents and newborns, increased economic stability of families, and better worker retention and productivity.
Ensuring these policies are inclusive of all parents, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or birthing status, extends these benefits even further. It removes the antiquated and misogynistic idea that childrearing is solely the domain of women—and challenges the notion that men are somehow not interested in, or not entitled to, paid time off work to care for their children and themselves. According to research conducted by Dove Men+Care, 85 percent of new dads across seven countries—the U.S., U.K., Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Brazil and Argentina—say they want to be more involved in the weeks and months after their child is born or adopted, but are limited by the time they are able to take off from work. These reasons, among many others, are why Gays With Kids has been working with Dove Men+Care to advocate for political and cultural change around the issue of parental leave.
While paid parental leave is yet to become a reality, its advocates can take some inspiration from the current fight to protect marriage equality. In somewhat of a surprise—particularly for a year that has seen more anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state legislatures across the country than any other—the Respect for Marriage Act may join a rare class of legislative unicorns with enough bipartisan support to become law. In the House, 47 Republicans joined Democrats to approve the bill last month. As the Senate now begins to take up the issue, some Republicans have already indicated they plan to vote for it.
Paid parental leave has long enjoyed broad, bipartisan support among lawmakers and voters alike. In one survey, 90 percent of Democrats supported paid family leave for all new parents, as did about half of Republicans. It's partly thanks to this support that lawmakers included paid family leave as part of a $3.5 trillion social policy bill, which failed last fall. Perhaps it's time to pass paid family leave on its own merits.
This LGBTQ+ History Month, let's fight for the Respect for Marriage Act. Its passage will send the important message that regardless of what the Supreme Court says, we will never again allow LGBTQ+ relationships to be relegated to the legal shadows of our country.
However, the fight to protect our families extends beyond justmarriage, and enacting a paid parental leave policy inclusive of all parents seems like an obvious step in ensuring a positive future for American families.
David Dodge is the editor at large at Gays with Kids, the largest online platform for gay, bi and trans dads and dads to be.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
