Photo Credit | FidelityMonth.com
For years now, Americans have become accustomed to having rainbow flags and drag queen story hours shoved in their face every June while major brands and sports teams unveil a gaudy array of “pride”-themed merchandise and platitudes. But this year, conservatives are pushing back with their own messaging, marking June as “Fidelity Month” – a celebration of God, community, country, and the nuclear family.
Princeton University Professor Robert George, a Catholic conservative, first began promoting “Fidelity Month” in 2023. He urged the celebration of the month alongside various pro-life and Protestant leaders. “As my Facebook friends know, by the authority vested in me by absolutely no one, I have declared June to be ‘Fidelity Month’ – a month dedicated to the importance of fidelity to God, spouses and families, our country, and our communities,” he wrote in May 2023.
As The College Fix previously reported, George also encouraged people to “make and fly a Fidelity Month flag” to celebrate their support for what made the country great.
Just a few years later, conservative leaders have turned what began as a simple Facebook post and a webinar into a national movement.
Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox declared ahead of June 1 that the state would officially recognize “Fidelity Month” and would celebrate the “core values” of the country, including “faith, family, [and] country.”
The proclamation marks a noteworthy shift for Cox, who declared June as “LGBTQ+ Pride Month” in 2021 and 2022 – the peak of woke insanity under the Biden administration. Cox also vetoed a bill in 2022 which would have banned male athletes who claim they are transgender from competing on women’s sports teams in Utah public schools (the legislature ultimately overrode his veto). Cox’s reversal is a clear sign of the LGBT movement’s declining power in American culture and politics.
Several other Republican-led states have now joined Utah in recommitting to the values of faith, family, and patriotism.
“Cultivating fidelity to God, family, community, and country contributes to human flourishing and supports a healthy, stable, well-ordered society,” Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote in her own Fidelity Month proclamation.
In a subtle shot at Pride Month, Sanders declared, “June is promoted by community and faith leaders as a time to encourage renewed dedication to these virtues and institutions.”
Other Republicans picked up this theme and issued their own proclamations supporting “Nuclear Family Month” or “Strong Families Month.”
“We proudly recognize the mothers and fathers raising the next generation and preserving the timeless values that guide Alabama,” Governor Kay Ivey announced on X. She also thanked her own parents who showed her “that strong families begin with strong parents.”
Indiana Governor Mike Braun likewise recognized the value parents and grandparents bring to the family, while also affirming that marriage is between one man and one woman.
“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, declaring “Nuclear Family Month” in the Hoosier State. He added that “God’s design for the family structure” includes “one husband, one wife,” and children.
Governor Braun also affirmed that “strong families” are needed for a stable civil society, tying that truth to the semiquincentennial celebrations this year. The state, through the proclamation, recognized “the important role families play in shaping the future of our state and our country.”
Tennessee Republican leaders, meanwhile, highlighted their own April resolution that establishes “Nuclear Family Month” in the state. Their bill declares that “the nuclear family is God’s perfect design for humanity and is aligned with the long-held traditional values of Tennessee.”
As Father’s Day approaches, the resolution also affirms the importance of dads in the home. It notes that “fatherless youths” are more likely to commit suicide, abuse alcohol, and end up in prison.
Predictably, LGBT leaders have claimed that it is “insulting” to commemorate Nuclear Family Month alongside their Pride Month programming.
“When the government comes in and says June, which everybody knows is Pride Month, is Nuclear Family Month, yes, there’s a bit of petty insulting going on there,” Tennessee Equality Project leader Chris Sanders told WKRN.
But as conservatives have pointed out, no one group has claim over the entire month of June. While the “rainbow mafia” may have forced corporate America to bend the knee to their political agenda, the rest of the country is under no obligation to do so. Proponents of the nuclear family and traditional American values are free to celebrate them whenever and however they wish.
LGBT activists still have every right to wave their rainbow flags and host pride parades, and liberal politicians can celebrate that movement all they want. But Republican leaders and everyday conservatives have just as much of a right to promote and celebrate something else: strong families – including wise and loving grandparents – and love of country.
Now that is something to take “pride” in and celebrate this June.
Matt Lamb is an AMAC Newsline contributor and associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
