Congratulations, Hawaii Family Forum, on 20 years of protecting family values in your state!
January 15th marked the 20-year anniversary for Family Policy Alliance’s state ally, Hawaii Family Forum.
In a state that tends to lean Left politically, Hawaii Family Forum, led by executive director Eva Andrade, has helped protect families in some incredible ways over the years.
Most recently, Family Policy Alliance worked with Hawaii Family Forum to help defeat assisted suicide in the state in 2017—despite a spend of over $1 Million by the leading advocates for doctor-assisted death. Hawaii Family Forum’s message that every life is worth fighting for—and that no one should be abandoned to hopelessness and death—resonated with Hawaii’s family-centered culture. And Hawaii Family Forum has defeated every effort to legalize assisted suicide since their founding in 1998.
Since 1998, Hawaii Family Forum has stood strong despite pressure to legalize gambling, which can prey on already hurting families. Hawaii remains one of only two states with no legalized commercial gambling!
And Hawaii Family Forum’s original executive director, Kelly Rosati (who later went on to serve as Focus on the Family’s Vice President, Advocacy for Children), drove the efforts to secure the first-ever legislative override of a governor’s veto in the state in 2001.
Kelly worked tirelessly with legislators to help pass a law to raise the state’s age of sexual consent from 14 to 16-years-old in order to provide greater protection for children. Hawaii’s then-governor vetoed the bill, and Kelly said at the time that the veto was “an affront to all the parents and concerned citizens of Hawaii who demanded action this legislative session to protect Hawaii’s minors from adult sexual predators.”
Kelly didn’t let the veto stop Hawaii Family Forum. She rallied Hawaii families to persuade legislators to ultimately override the governor’s veto for the first time ever!
Hawaii Family Forum has worked tirelessly to protect families—especially children and the elderly—for 20 years, and our Family Policy Alliance team is so proud to ally with this amazing ministry!
We asked Eva Andrade, Hawaii Family Forum’s executive director, about her ministry serving families in Hawaii: “There is something invigorating and humbling about standing for the values that make this country (and our state) great. In Hawaii, we have been able to promote righteousness because it is in our state motto, “Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ‘Āina i ka Pono” (The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness.) For 2o years, we have stood firm for faith, family and religious freedom. The excitement never ends because now we can look toward the next 20 years with hope and anticipation for what the Lord has yet to accomplish through all the men and women that continue to pray and stand with us.”
Congratulations again to Eva and Hawaii Family Forum!
Want to know if you have a Family Policy Alliance state ally in your state? Check here.
Neil Gorsuch isn’t the only conservative legal thinker who has been appointed to a judicial bench during the new administration. So far this year, 19 federal judges have been nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate. Many of these vacancies have been filled in the last several months. This acceleration in confirmations is due largely to Senate Republican leaders working around roadblocks put in place by Senate Democrats to stop the appointment of judges who will faithfully interpret the Constitution and law, not attempt to “write law” from the bench.
Two of the most recent appointments to circuit courts have strong ties to the Family Policy Alliance network. Don Willett was recently confirmed to sit on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and is closely connected to Texas Values, Family Policy Alliance’s allied organization in Texas.
Also, Steve Grasz, who was confirmed to sit on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, was formerly on the board of the Nebraska Family Alliance and his son, Nate Grasz, now serves as the organization’s Policy Director.
Karen Bowling, Nebraska Family Alliance’s Executive Director, shared her congratulations to the Grasz family: “We congratulate Steve Grasz and his family on his confirmation to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. Senate confirmed a constitutionalist with a proven public service record in Nebraska who will serve with integrity and judicial prudence for years to come.”
These men have shown a commitment to faithfully interpreting the Constitution, a record of interpreting the law rather than legislating from the bench, and an upstanding character and worldview. These two men should be an encouragement to all families to see judges in our country with this type of character restoring the proper role of the judiciary. And, these two men should be an encouragement to lawmakers working hard to pass good laws that protect families, life and religious freedom—with these two men, pro-family lawmakers do not have to fear that their good laws will be overturned by activist judges.
The Trump Administration proposed that life begins at conception. The opposition quickly declared that’s not a scientific statement, but a matter of belief.
In his Stoplight® commentary, Stuart Shepard asks a single question that brings it all into clarity. It’s a question you should ask yourself.
Thank you for sharing Stoplight with your friends.
Ask the President to nominate a Secretary of Health and Human Services who agrees that life begins at conception. It’s quick and easy to send a message through our Action Center
Leaders from our 40 allied state family policy councils (FPCs) gathered for the 25th Family Policy Alliance FPC Conference held July 24-28 in Colorado Springs.
It ran concurrently with the Statesmen Academy, which is a project of our sister organization called Family Policy Foundation. More than 30 men and women, who are either in office or seeking to be in office, learned what it means to govern based on principle and to join a dynamic network of like-minded lawmakers.
Each group heard from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Sen. Tom Coburn, Rep. Joe Pitts, Rep. Daniel Webster, Matthew Spalding from Hillsdale College, and other experts who shared insights on everything from policy to technology to how to win. The theme for the week: “Ready to Win.”
Here are some photos to give you a window into these outstanding events.
Big Media and the Left said a special election in Georgia for a seat in Congress would be a referendum on the president’s conservative policies. Your support of Family Policy Alliance played a part in an upset victory for the pro-life candidate.
Paul Weber, our President and CEO, explains what can happen when you unleash your citizenship.
Here’s the video that got so much attention:
Family Action Council of Tennessee is moving forward with a lawsuit seeking to get clarity on the Supreme Court ruling that redefined marriage.
The Obergefell case of two years ago left many state marriage statutes in limbo and David Fowler, president of FACT, tells us that he’s calling out the court to, in Justice Antonin Scalia’s words, “remind the court of its impotence.”
Find an allied group in your state.
Tom Perez, the head of the DNC, recently told the Huffington Post that “every Democrat…should support a woman’s right to make her own choices about her body and her health.”
Paul Weber, president and CEO of Family Policy Alliance wonders what that means for Democrats who believe in the sanctity of human life?
This past election proved to be a huge success for conservatives in Kentucky.
Kent Ostrander, executive director of The Family Foundation of Kentucky, one of Family Policy Alliance’s 40 state-based allies, tells us what’s happening after a hundred-year conservative drought.
Find an allied organization in your state.
Your support is strengthening and expanding Family Policy Alliance’s network of state- based allies across the nation. In just the past year, three new state organizations have launched or relaunched—to protect your family and your values.
“This focus on the states and not on Washington—well, I think that’s what the Founders intended, and it’s refreshing to see a national group, Family Policy Alliance, take that intention seriously,” said Michael Geer, president of Pennsylvania Family Institute and member of the Family Policy Alliance Board of Directors.
Since 1987, God has allowed Family Policy Alliance of North Dakota (formerly North Dakota Family Alliance) to accomplish much for North Dakota’s families. We have always been there fighting for your core beliefs: protecting life, religious freedom and pro-family values.
Thanks to your support, we made clear the importance of our legislators, our laws and our state recognizing that preborn babies have heartbeats, strongly advocated for abortionists to have admitting privileges at local hospitals, supported a 20-week ban on abortion based on the preborn baby’s ability to feel pain, and drove the effort to ban abortions based on gender.
Your support protects state residents from being persecuted based on their religious convictions, and helped defeat a bill that would have required North Dakotans to recognize same-sex marriages. Finally, your support enabled us to engage in many House and Senate races in the last election, including one where the pro-family candidate won by 37 votes!
Thank you for partnering with us in prayer, grassroots activism and financial support. As it says in Philippians 1:27, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.” So let’s stand firm together and continue praying that God will bless our partnership, for His glory!
Mark Jorritsma
President & Executive Director Family Policy Alliance of North Dakota
I joined the Family Policy Alliance of Kansas team in December. And I couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity to stand with you in support of the principles we hold most dear. I’ve been in the fight for these truths for many years, including previously serving as director of Faith Outreach for Marco Rubio for President and executive director of the Manhattan Declaration. I’m now honored to focus on the fight here at home, in Kansas.
Kansas is where my wife and I chose to plant our roots. This is where we will raise our children. In response to Jeremiah’s call to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7), I’m committed to making our state the best place for our families to flourish.
There is so much that we can accomplish if we join forces and work together. Kansas is in the crosshairs of those who wish to prohibit faith in the public square, redefine our most basic understanding of human identity and devalue lives they deem unworthy of living. Events of recent years have awakened us to the reality of these threats. This is a time for vigilance, wisdom and faith as we press back—which is only possible because of your faithful support.
Eric Teetsel
President & Executive Director Family Policy Alliance of Kansas
Last year, Georgia legislators attempted to pass a basic religious freedom bill. It simply confirmed that religious leaders don’t have to perform same-sex marriages that violate their sincerely held beliefs. Governor Deal vetoed this bill after pressure from LGBT activists and companies like the NFL and Disney.
Clearly, Georgia needed a strong organization dedicated to protecting religious freedom, as well as families and the sanctity of life. And thanks to your support, Family Policy Alliance of Georgia launched in November to give Georgia families a voice at the state capital. Because of you, Georgia families have the opportunity to see meaningful religious freedom protections advance in our state—and to hold our elected officials accountable when they fail to protect men, women and children of faith.
I’m thankful for your support of Family Policy Alliance of Georgia. Through your partnership, you’ll protect life and improve the quality of life for all Georgians—because every life is worth fighting for. Abortion activists feel more threatened than ever and are fighting hard to maintain their funding.
Meanwhile, death activists are fighting to abandon our most vulnerable—those with serious illnesses, the elderly and the disabled— to hopelessness and death in the form of assisted suicide. Together, we can advance policy that instead sends the message that the most vulnerable in Georgia are worthy of hope and protection.
Cole Muzio
President & Executive Director Family Policy Alliance of Georgia
The U.S. Supreme Court sent a case involving the Obama administration’s “bathroom mandate” back to a lower court. The Gloucester, Virginia, case was about to be heard by the high court on March 28th.
President Trump rescinded the directive issued by the Department of Education and Department of Justice. That had a direct impact on the case being sent back to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“The first duty of school districts is to protect the bodily privacy rights of all the students who attend their schools,” said Kerri Kupec, an Alliance Defending Freedom attorney, “and to respect the rights of parents who understandably don’t want their children exposed in intimate changing areas like locker rooms and showers. The 4th Circuit should affirm the plain meaning of Title IX.”
Title IX, the federal law that opened opportunities for girls in the educational sphere, uses the word “sex” to define girls and boys. President Obama reinterpreted the plain meaning of the language to include “gender identity.”
Family Policy Alliance partnered with WoLF, a radical feminist organization, to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the case. Autumn Leva, policy director for Family Policy Alliance, said the effort to protect the privacy and safety of children in public schools will never end.
“Now that federal courts can consider this case without the interference of the Obama Administration’s faulty ‘bathroom mandate,’ we hope that the 4th Circuit—and other courts considering similar cases—will return to common sense and ensure that the privacy and safety rights of all are protected, particularly for students in our schools,” she said. “Family Policy Alliance and our network of state-based family policy groups will continue to advocate for privacy and safety to be once again made top priority at the state level as well.”