New Report Addresses Modern Family

A new report from the Center for American Progress sheds light on the ways the federal government has failed to adapt to modern understandings of what constitutes a family. Frank J. Bewkes, a former policy analyst for the LGBTQ Research & Communications Project at the Center for American Progress & author of the report stated, “What constitutes a ‘family’ in federal statutes has not evolved to reflect the diversity of this country’s families & this needs to change. Family, including chosen family, is a core part of the human experience. But it transcends blood, legal & housing ties. This is especially true in the LGBTQ community. When statutory definitions of family are too narrow to encompass lived realities, real families—both LGBTQ & not—are rendered invisible & excluded from benefits or services they should have access to by law.” Less than 20 percent of all U.S. families are comprised of two married parents with at least one child below the age of 18 & the marriage rate continues to fall. More than a third of all children in the United States have lived with a relative other than a parent or sibling before the age of 18. Narrow non-inclusive definitions of family can be particularly harmful to our LGBTQ community. Many children who identify as LGBTQ are met with rejection from their biological families contributing to 120 percent more likely to experience homelessness than non-LGBTQ children & even though marriage equality is the law of the land LGBTQ couples who live together are more likely to be unmarried than opposite-sex couples who live together.
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