WASHINGTON, D.C.—The launch of the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance's Family Matters Project took place at the opening plenary session of this past weekend's Sexual Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C.. Ricci Levy, Woodhull's Executive Director, announced the launch of the project during her opening remarks.
"Woodhull launched Family Matters to project the fundamental human right to family by eliminating discrimination based on family structure and relationship choices," Levy explained. "In 2010, while more than half of all households counted by the US Census were family households, only 20 percent were what we consider traditional nuclear family households made up of a husband, a wife, and their own children. The Family Matters Project will work to expand rights, respect and recognition for all families."
The Family Matters project will work along three strategic lines. It will raise public awareness of family diversity through the sharing of stories and research, and through a range of social media campaigns. It will provide education about human rights at conferences and other public events. And it will facilitate collaboration with human rights and social justice organizations to draft and promote model policies and legislation preventing discrimination based on family structure.
"The slogan for this project says it all: 'Rights, respect and recognition for every family'," Levy continued. "We focus on rights because all families deserve the same political, social and economic rights regardless of their structure. We focus on respect because no family should face bullying, violence or stigmatization because of their relationship choices. We focus on recognition, because all families deserve to be recognized and taken into account, whether by the US Census Bureau, the IRS, or their neighbors and community members."
Woodhull invites the participation of all families in kicking off this ambitious project by sharing family stories at the project's website.
