10News | April 16, 2026
Original article can be viewed HERE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a House joint resolution this month to make June “Nuclear Family Month” instead of Pride month.
The governor signed the resolution April 9 and it outlines the alleged “attack” on the nuclear family and the impacts it allegedly has on children when a father isn’t part of their upbringing. \
“…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.
The resolution was first introduced in Feb. 2025. The House didn’t pass it until April 2025 and the Senate passed it in March.
The resolution claims fatherless families are four times more likely to live in poverty, are 10 times more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol, are more likely to have mental health and behavioral issues and that 60% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. The bill does not cite where these figures came from.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tennessee averaged roughly seven marriages per 1,000 people in 2023 and close to three divorces per 1,000 people. According to the CDC, the national rate of marriages declined from 8.2 per 1,000 in 2000 to 6.2 in 2022, and the rate of divorce declined from 4.0 per 1,000 in 2000 to 2.4 per 1,000 in 2022.
The resolution also suggests that children without fathers are more likely to become school shooters.
“…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 says, “the nuclear family is under attack in our beloved State and nation.”
It also condemns the World Health Organization and the United Nations for “promoting sterilization and abortion practices.”
LGBTQ+ advocates condemned the resolution.
“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.”
