Billboard Claiming Children Have One Mother and One Father Sparks Nationwide Debate

The nonprofit Them Before Us put up 19 billboards in Tennessee, Alabama and Ohio declaring that no child has two mothers or two fathers, drawing swift condemnation from local media and LGBTQ commentators.

Last month, the advocacy group Them Before Us erected 19 billboards across Tennessee, Alabama and Ohio with the statements “No child has two dads. No child has two moms.” The displays were immediately denounced by local outlets and social-media influencers as hateful toward LGBTQ families.

The organization frames the backlash as a misunderstanding, arguing that the signs merely point out a biological reality that has been downplayed since the Supreme Court’s 2017 rulings and the adoption of the Uniform Parentage Act in several states. Those legal changes, along with shifts in school curricula and television programming, have moved parenthood from a biological concept to a legal status that can be assigned to any adult.

The article shares testimonies from people like Millie and Heather Barwick, who grew up with two mothers and describe a persistent yearning for a father figure. By highlighting these experiences, the author contends that the cultural project to erase biological parentage has left many children confused and grieving. The billboard, according to the group, does not create that pain—it merely acknowledges it.