Anti-LGBTQ+ billboards declaring ‘No child has two dads’ spark backlash in Ohio
The signs were paid for by Seattle-based group Them Before Us, which opposes marriage equality, IVF and no-fault divorce
By Callum Wells
Anti-LGBTQ+ billboards declaring, “No child has two dads. No child has two moms,” have appeared across rural Ohio, drawing criticism from queer organisations and local residents.
The signs were paid for by Seattle-based group Them Before Us, an organisation that opposes marriage equality, in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and no-fault divorce. The group was founded by campaigner Katy Faust, who has previously opposed same-sex marriage and has links to the anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom.
One of the first people to draw attention to the billboards was Megan Tucker-Manly, who spotted one outside a Walmart in Lima, Ohio. She shared a photograph on Facebook, where it has since been liked more than 7,000 times.
“[Children] have a right to the one man and one woman that created them” – Them Before Us defending the campaign on social media
Tucker-Manly said the message extends beyond same-sex parents and could also affect children with divorced parents, those living in foster care and families escaping abusive relationships.
“I’m not sitting down, even though I should be the one to sit down because I have stage IV cancer and should be focused on other things,” Tucker-Manly said. “Instead, this has just lit a fire [in me].”
She later said she initially questioned whether she had read the billboard correctly. After seeing it again a week later, she researched Them Before Us and said she was concerned by what she found.
“What they want [sounds pretty], but it’s not reality,” she said. “It’s about getting under the skin.”
Them Before Us has defended the campaign on social media, writing: “Our movement is not about adult feelings, and, no, children do not have a right to ‘loving adults.’ They have a right to the one man and one woman that created them.”
Delphine Luneau from the Human Rights Campaign described the billboards as “disgusting” and “desperate”
The campaign has also prompted a response from Dayton-based LGBTQ+ organisation Have a Gay Day, which has bought billboard space carrying messages in support of LGBTQ+ families. After launching a fundraiser to keep the adverts running, founder Michael Knote said the group had raised more than $18,000.
Equality Ohio has criticised the campaign, stating: “These billboards don’t just attack LGBTQ+ families, they erase every Ohio kid whose home doesn’t fit a narrow, manufactured mold. They tell real children with real families that they don’t count.”
Delphine Luneau, a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, described the billboards as “disgusting” and “desperate”, adding that polling suggests around two-thirds of Ohioans support marriage equality.
“Something has to change” – Lima resident Megan Tucker-Manly
“These outside groups targeting the Buckeye State with fear and disinformation won’t ever win,” Luneau told Ohio LGBTQ+ website The Buckeye Flame.
Tucker-Manly said the attention generated by her Facebook post has encouraged her to address Lima City Council, where she hopes to begin a conversation about tackling hate speech locally.
“Something has to change,” she said.