As the 2024 presidential election nears, voters continue to have questions about a right-wing agenda known as Project 2025.
Project 2025 is an extensive proposal to quickly enact dozens of conservative policy goals in the event Donald Trump wins the election.
Many VERIFY readers have been asking questions about what specifically the project proposes. Lately several have asked, in particular, what the project says about the definition of a family.
Ginny texted VERIFY to ask whether Project 2025 says “the only valid family is a working man married to a stay-at-home woman with children.”
THE QUESTION
Does Project 2025 say “the only valid family is a working man married to a stay-at-home woman with children?”
THE SOURCES
Project 2025 policy plan, “Mandate for Leadership: A Conservative Promise”
THE ANSWER
Project 2025 does not use the phrase “the only valid family” or say certain family makeups should be illegal, but it does say the government should actively promote heterosexual marriage and parenthood.
WHAT WE FOUND
The details of Project 2025’s proposals are laid out in a 922-page book called the “Mandate for Leadership: A Conservative Promise”, put together by a conservative think tank called The Heritage Foundation.
VERIFY examined the entire document, and it never uses the phrase “the only valid family” or says certain family makeups should be illegal.
But this answer needs context. At several points, the project’s authors argue the government should actively promote heterosexual marriage and parenthood.
On page 451, the document says “Families comprised of a married mother, father, and their children are the foundation of a well-ordered nation and healthy society.” It also says policies enacted under President Biden that focus on “LGBTQ+ equity… should be repealed,” but doesn’t specify which policies.
Project 2025 does list some specific policy proposals that it says would “support the formation of stable, married, nuclear families.” For instance, expanding the use of federal funds for Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education programs.
The authors want federal grants to be provided for “state-level high school education… on healthy marriages.” They also want to require that federally-funded family planning clinics “provide information to customers about the importance of marriage to family and personal well-being.”
Project 2025 argues the recipients of these funds should include religious institutions that only recognize heterosexual marriages.
Project 2025 also claims Congress could financially encourage marriage by amending the tax code. The authors argue parts of it – in particular means-testing for certain welfare programs – currently disincentivizes couples from getting married for fear they could lose benefits.
In addition, the authors say child support laws and practices should “encourage unmarried couples to commit to marriage.”
Addressing adoption, Project 2025 doesn’t explicitly say same-sex couples should be barred from adopting children. However, the authors argue the government should protect adoption agencies that refuse gay couples “due to their religious belief that a child should have a married mother and father.”
Nothing VERIFY found in the "Mandate for Leadership" said women should stay home with their children and not work. Although, the document says “Working fathers are essential to the well-being and development of their children” and did not mention working mothers.
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