Family Values Should Mean Valuing All Families

When Fox News host Guy Benson and his husband announced the birth of their daughter, Madison, many responded as one would expect: with heartfelt congratulations for a growing family. Others, however, chose a different path. Rather than celebrate the arrival of a healthy baby, they used the occasion to question whether Guy and Adam’s family should exist at all.

Among the loudest voices was Megan Basham, who argued on X that there is “nothing conservative about deliberately creating motherless children.” Others echoed similar sentiments, suggesting that same-sex couples are inherently incapable of providing what children need simply because they do not fit a traditional mold.

Unfortunately, the attacks did not stop there. Jenna Ellis condemned Guy Benson’s family as “morally wrong, unnatural, and horrific,” reducing the birth of a beautiful baby girl to a political talking point. Whatever one’s views on surrogacy, conservatives should reject the temptation to demonize people whose only “offense” is building a family. That kind of rhetoric doesn’t defend conservative values—it undermines the compassion, decency, and respect for human dignity that those values require.

Conservatives are free to debate the ethics of surrogacy. Many people of good faith—including some who support same-sex marriage—hold sincere moral reservations about the practice. Those concerns deserve respectful discussion.

But that isn’t what much of this criticism was about.

Too often, the conversation became less about surrogacy and more about delegitimizing gay parents. The implication was unmistakable: because Guy Benson is a gay man, his family is somehow less worthy of celebration than any other.

That is not conservatism.

Conservatism has always understood that strong families are the foundation of a strong nation. It teaches responsibility, commitment, sacrifice, and the importance of raising children in loving homes. Those values are not diminished because the parents happen to be gay.

Guy Benson has spent his career defending conservative principles—limited government, free markets, a strong national defense, religious liberty, and constitutional government. He has been one of the most thoughtful and effective conservative voices in American media.

Now, after welcoming his daughter into the world, he deserves the same basic respect every new parent deserves.

The assumption that a child is automatically worse off because they’re being raised by two fathers isn’t just insulting, it’s increasingly at odds with the evidence. Ms. Basham and her ill informed ilk can continue repeating that claim, but repetition doesn’t make it true. Cornell University’s What We Know project reviewed 79 peer-reviewed studies and found that 75 of them concluded children raised by same-sex parents fare just as well as those raised by opposite-sex parents. The lesson is simple: children thrive when they’re surrounded by love, stability, and devoted parents. Conservatives should be the first to recognize that reality instead of clinging to stereotypes that demean families like Guy Benson’s.

For decades, Log Cabin Republicans have argued that the Republican Party is strongest when it judges people by their character, their values, and their contributions—not by their sexual orientation. That vision, along with President Trump’s leadership, has helped make today’s Republican coalition broader, younger, and more welcoming than many imagined possible.

There remains room within the conservative movement for disagreements over public policy and bioethics. There is room for thoughtful conversations about surrogacy and reproductive technology. Those are legitimate debates.

What there should not be room for is treating gay conservatives as perpetual outsiders or suggesting that their children are somehow less deserving of love, dignity, or respect.

Every child deserves to be welcomed into the world with joy—not used as a prop in an ideological fight.

Republicans often speak about building a culture that values family. That commitment should extend to every family built on love, responsibility, and lifelong commitment. If we truly believe children are blessings, then we should celebrate when they are welcomed into homes where they will be cherished.