A New York town supervisor is fighting a bill that would force the state to replace “mother” and “father” with gender-neutral terms in parts of state law.
Democrats in support of the bill claim the change would be more “inclusive” of LGBTQ people who have different “gender identities.” The New York legislature passed the bill on June 2. It would replace “mother” with “gestating parent” and “father” with “non-gestating” parent in sections of state family law. The word “paternity” would also be replaced with “parentage.” The replacement applies to education law, child support statuses, family court cases and family codes. The bill awaits a signature or veto from Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Days after the state Senate passed the bill, John Ferretti, supervisor of Hempstead, the most populous township in the U.S., and other Hempstead officials, pushed back by signing an emergency resolution. Hempstead Township is near New York City, on Long Island.
The resolution would mandate that the terms “mother” and “father” be used exclusively in the township’s code to refer to male and female parents. The resolution is set for a vote on June 16.
Ferretti said that his decision to file a resolution stemmed from a conversation with his 9-year-old daughter, who overheard him and his wife speaking about the bill.
“She came into our bedroom, very, very upset, saying, ‘Can I still call you Daddy?’” Ferretti said.
“It really hit close to home,” Ferretti told Fox News Digital. “We need to take a stand in the Town of Hempstead, the largest township in America, and make sure that we make it clear not just to residents in the Town of Hempstead, but to residents throughout New York State, that we won’t stand for this kind of woke nonsense.”
“Nobody will ever change the fact that my children’s mother is their mother,” he said. “Nobody will ever change the fact that I am their father. Just words on a piece of paper won’t change someone being a mother, someone being a father.”
Hochul, who said she has not yet reviewed the bill, must sign or veto the bill by the end of the year.
David Closson, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview, called the state’s legislative move the “downstream effect of when you change marriage law,” and called the term “gestating parent” the “kind of language that emerges when parenthood is detached from biological reality.”
“It’s sad, but I’m not surprised by this,” he said.
“Years ago, during the debates on same-sex marriage … we were assured that redefining marriage would have no effect on our understanding of motherhood or fatherhood or parenthood,” Closson said. “But … once marriage is no longer fundamentally connected to the union of a man and a woman … it becomes increasingly difficult to explain why the law should privilege terms like father and mother.”
Closson said that he is encouraged by “the strong public reaction” to the bill, explaining that it “tells me that many Americans—including non-religious Americans—still recognize mothers as mothers, fathers as fathers, and recognize that children benefit from knowing and being connected to both of their parents whenever possible. Reality has a way of asserting itself even when our laws and language attempt to redefine it.”
“Our people need teaching that is clear and confident about God’s creation of us as male and female: our bodies are good gifts from God. Our identity is found in Jesus Christ and not our feelings, not our desires,” Closson said. “Of course, pastorally we approach these situations with genuine compassion. Individuals with gender confusion —they’re experiencing real pain and loneliness. This is an opportunity for pastors and church leaders to walk with people with grace and truth.”
