Every June, streets and institutions fill with flags, campaigns, and events to mark what’s called “Pride Month.” The imposed order wants us to believe it’s a demand for “rights and visibility.”

For families, however, it constitutes an unacceptable interference, a model of society that is being promoted, and an attack on the place that the natural family occupies in it.

At acTÚa FAMILIA  we believe that true pride should not consist of the vindication of a sexual orientation or an identity, but also in the defense of  the institution that constitutes the first space of love, education and development of every person: the family.

That is why we are promoting the  #PrideOfMyFamily campaign , an initiative that aims to highlight the value of the family founded on the love between a man and a woman, open to life and committed to the education of their children in solid values.

Our concern is not limited to the transformation of the concept of family.  We believe that the current debate touches on an even deeper issue: the very identity of the human being.  We live in an era in which feelings seem to have displaced objective reality. With increasing frequency, it is asserted that identity depends exclusively on personal perception, while biological data takes a back seat.

We wonder what will happen if new generations can no longer clearly define what a man or a woman is. From our perspective, sexual identity is part of human nature and cannot be determined solely by each individual’s subjective experience.  A feeling, however intense, does not change biological sex.

In this sense, we disagree with Simone de Beauvoir’s famous assertion that “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” We maintain that  women are born women and men are born men,  and that femininity and masculinity have a real foundation that deserves to be recognized and protected.

This reflection is not intended to question the dignity of any person, who always deserves respect, regardless of their sexual orientation or beliefs. Our concern is directed at certain ideological currents that, in our view,  present sexual identity as a completely malleable reality  and promote an anthropological vision with which we profoundly disagree.

We believe our society is experiencing an unprecedented identity crisis. Young people seem increasingly disoriented and have greater difficulty finding a stable meaning in their lives. The psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor Frankl described this phenomenon as “existential emptiness”:  the loss of meaning in life and of a purpose that allows one to understand even suffering.  When major role models disappear, human beings become especially vulnerable to any proposition that offers them an immediate sense of identity.

From our perspective, there is a silent cultural revolution underway  that challenges the most basic bonds upon which society has been built. We believe that, through cultural and educational changes, motherhood, fatherhood, masculinity, and femininity are being relativized, and the value of the family as a fundamental institution is being weakened.

For us,  the difference between men and women is not an obstacle, but rather what makes complementarity , the generation of new life, and mutual enrichment possible. Maternal and paternal role models contribute different and valuable dimensions to the holistic development of children.

We also maintain that schools, institutes, and universities should be spaces for learning, critical thinking, and the pursuit of knowledge, avoiding becoming places where certain ideological positions are promoted as the only possible options.

In this spirit, Halyna, an activist with  acTÚante  in Madrid, recently attended a Pride celebration to present the  #MyFamilyPride campaign . Her presence aimed to offer an alternative perspective that reaffirms the value of family and express the organization’s concern about some of the messages and performances present at these types of events.

The video accompanying this article shows footage of a drag queen performance in an area where  minors were also present in the audience . At acTÚa FAMILIA, we believe that  this type of performance raises concerns about the content to which children are exposed  and about the criteria that should govern the organization of public events with minors in attendance.

We also question the public funding of certain activities and demand greater control over the allocation of taxpayers’ money, especially when it relates to issues concerning childhood and education.

In this context,  we want to champion a different kind of pride. The pride of those who believe that family remains the first place where a person learns to love and be loved , where they discover the value of commitment, responsibility, dedication, and solidarity.

Because, for us,  pride isn’t about a flag or an ideology. Pride lies in our family , in the stable bond between a man and a woman open to life, in children who grow up surrounded by love and role models, and in the conviction that a strong society always begins with strong families.

That’s why, these days, we too say clearly:  Pride? Yes. Pride in my family!

Halyna Vrublevska Mentuj