Family Values from Tehran to Tallahassee

On Monday, September 19, just before the opening of this year’s United Nations General Assembly, a high-level summit titled Transforming Education was held at the UN headquarters. The goal was to reaffirm political attention and support for ambitious and concrete actions to address the global education crisis that denies hundreds of thousands of children—especially in developing countries—access to consistent and quality schooling. The effects of this crisis reach beyond the children themselves; they are a major obstacle to social development and the capacity to respond swiftly and effectively to economic, social, security, and environmental challenges.

However, due to last-minute changes in the schedules of most heads of state and government—who were expected in New York on Monday but diverted to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in London—the main speakers at the summit ended up being those who hadn’t been invited to the funeral. The discussion at the Economic and Social Council chamber, right next to the UN Security Council hall, was opened by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

In his address, Raisi stressed that education must be rooted in justice, patriotism, and family values, adding that he meant “normal families, not unnatural communities promoted by certain Western societies.” Outside the UN building, protesters erected a symbolic graveyard on the lawn with tombstones bearing the names of hundreds of victims of the Iranian regime. At the forefront stood a large photograph of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who died in custody after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for not wearing a headscarf. Iranian authorities described her death as regrettable, but that didn’t stop massive protests, led largely by courageous Iranian women, who have been violently dispersed by security forces. So far, more than 40 protestors have been killed.

At the official opening of the UN General Assembly the following day, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was the first to speak. He shared his interpretation of human rights, centered on "defending the family, protecting life from birth, self-defense, and rejecting gender theory."

Roughly 1,500 kilometers to the south, in Tallahassee—the capital of Florida—state governor Ron DeSantis is busy pursuing his 2024 presidential ambitions. Determined to outflank Donald Trump from the right (a difficult but apparently not impossible feat), DeSantis enacted the “Don’t Say Gay” law in the spring, which bans any mention of sexual orientation or gender identity in Florida’s elementary schools. The law closely mirrors legislation introduced earlier in Hungary, and before that, in the Russian Federation.

DeSantis has given sweeping powers to local school boards—now filled with his allies—to interfere with curriculum and cleanse textbooks of all “progressive filth,” not only references to homosexuality but also discussions of racial discrimination or critical race theory, which our Slovene in-law Donald (Trump) calls “toxic propaganda.” Critical race theory is an interdisciplinary field that studies systemic racism and how social concepts of race and ethnicity influence law, politics, and media.

Recently, DeSantis—alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott—made headlines by sending migrants legally awaiting asylum processing to Martha’s Vineyard, the “liberal” island off the coast of Massachusetts, and to the residence of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

We know all too well what Trump’s Republicans, especially the Supreme Court majority, think about women's right to bodily autonomy and reproductive choice. Their mantra “It’s about the children” applies only from conception to birth—after that, those children are largely left to fend for themselves, especially if they are born on the wrong end of a trickle-down economy.

In this global club of “defenders of family values,” there are of course many politicians and parties across Europe, but one figure stands out—Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin has long built his politics on systemic homophobia in the name of Russian culture, spiritual purity, and protection from Western liberal decadence.

In his recent address to the Russian people, justifying the need for “partial mobilization” after a series of defeats in Ukraine, he also cited the need to protect Russians from the threat of Western “pseudo-values.” His efforts are vigorously supported by the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church. In March, Patriarch Kirill justified the attack on Ukraine by citing the need to protect Russia (and apparently its neighbors) from the “imposition” of pride parades.

Some might wave this off—suggesting that such attitudes toward homosexuality, gender equality, and non-discrimination are just coincidences, akin to everyone supporting turning right on red. But of course, they’re not. Regardless of their relationships or views of each other, these politicians represent local variants of the same ideological pathology.

Homophobia, misogyny, denying women the right to control their own bodies, and hostility toward migrants are carefully chosen levers to undermine and shield against liberal democracy. Western right-wing populism, Russian nationalist imperialism, and Iranian theocracy all exploit fear, frustration, and prejudice. By scapegoating certain social groups, they offer disillusioned citizens easy targets for their real or imagined grievances—while paving or fortifying their own paths to power.

Homophobia and related ideologies built on intolerance and hatred are effective threads for unraveling the often sloppily stitched sweater of liberal democracy. Denying equality and human dignity to one group becomes a powerful tool for eroding solidarity, empathy, and social responsibility toward anyone.

First they came for the gays…

Humanistic values aren’t sausages you can slice to your liking and serve only to yourself and your kind. A society that denies equality and dignity to some will, sooner or later, deny them to all. The erosion of solidarity and empathy is precisely what makes right-wing populism so appealing to neoliberals. The so-called “natural laws” that declare homosexuality unnatural are also convenient justifications for a society in which the majority have little or nothing, while a tiny few hold almost everything.

It is especially cynical and vile to see these ideas spread in the name of defending families and children. In the populist worldview, the family is defended by hatred toward others, and children's rights are determined by the sexual orientation of their parents—not by their need for love, protection, and care.

The solution is not to surrender the defense of family values and children's rights to populism. Quite the opposite: it is precisely in the name of families and children that this ideology must be opposed.

Families can only be truly protected through social, economic, housing, employment, and educational policies that give everyone, regardless of personal circumstance, a chance for a dignified life and the freedom to decide when and how to start a family. Children’s interests can only be protected by creating a society in which all children are safe, their rights respected, and they have access to quality education, as well as all forms of social and physical safety and well-being.

The alternative is an ideology that “protects” families and children by pushing LGBTQ+ people into segregation, women back to the kitchen, and those in need into abandonment. If we allow these ideas to prevail, we will soon find ourselves in a society that is hostile to everyone—especially families and children.