Family Foundation

The Family Foundation is an organization that has been called "the gatekeeper to Virginia's conservative coalition." It was founded in 1985 by conservative political activists Walter Barbee and Anne Kincaid.[1] The foundation is affiliated with Focus on the Family.[2]

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The foundation issues report cards rating Virginia politicians according to how they vote on "family-focused bills" involving such issues as homeschooling, same sex marriage, Planned Parenthood funding, Common Core, sexually explicit curricula (i.e., sex education), adoption, charter schools, school choice, recognition of the Roe v. Wade decision as the Day of Tears, Obamacare Medicaid expansion, the Hyde Amendment, sexual orientation discrimination, transgender bathroom access, the Equal Rights Amendment, informed consent to abortion, health and safety standards for abortion clinics, Hate crimes, and sexual-orientation counseling. All of the legislators with perfect scores are Republicans.[3]

The organization is led by Victoria Cobb. Roger Pogge, the husband of former Virginia delegate Brenda Pogge, is the Foundation's Ministry Relations Coordinator.[4][5]

Leadership

Victoria Cobb is the leader of the Family Foundation, the only job she has ever held. She acknowledges that, while she is against same-sex marriage, heterosexual marriage has become a disaster as well, and she describes single moms as "heroic". She claims that many people oppose abortion based on science rather than faith.[6] She claims that the political left has tried to silence her as part of a war on women, and that one-third of women who get abortions do so because they've been coerced by physical threats or by the threat of withdrawal of financial resources.[7]

She was accused of having a conflict of interest, given that she was an anti-abortion activist and her husband Matt Cobb was deputy secretary of Health and Human Resources in Virginia,[8] helping lead the office in charge of interpreting abortion regulations.[9]

She said, "Science has not found a genetic link to homosexuality. Even with the completed genome project, no evidence was found to suggest it is connected with one's DNA. I think those that have stepped away from their lifestyle as a gay individual and are now married with children would tell you that they made a choice.”[10]

In 2019, Cobb successfully lobbied a subcommittee of the Virginia state legislature to prevent passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.[11]

Agenda
Just your typical family: 2 kids, 2 dads, 2 moms.

The foundation wants to bust abortion clinics for health and safety violations, cut funding for abortion, take away the right of terminally ill patients to choose euthanasia, reward women who choose to take unplanned pregnancies to term, and increase access to adoption. With regard to marriage, the Family Foundation wants to make it harder to obtain a no-fault divorce and allow discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The foundation was a strong proponent of parental consent for abortion, mandatory invasive ultrasound for women seeking abortions, having the state sell "choose life" vanity license plates, requiring a moment of silence in schools, and having the state post the motto "In God We Trust", outlawing riverboat gambling, and outlawing gambling at Internet cafes, all of which became part of legislation that was ultimately enacted.

They view transgender surgery as elective and therefore not medically necessary.[12]

In 2013 and 2016, Ted Cruz addressed the foundation's annual gala.[13]

Persecution complex

In 2008, the Family Foundation described a federal appellate court ruling barring police chaplains from praying in Jesus's name as "anti-Christian hysteria".[14] In 2009, the foundation unveiled their “Rediscovering God in America” conference where Lou Engle laid his hands upon Newt Gingrich and beseeched God to extend his “influence for righteousness in this nation, lay your supernatural hand of God upon him and deliver him from the evil schemes of the enemy.”[15]

gollark: They can't track running processes and whatnot this way.
gollark: It worries me how much infodatas they gather.
gollark: I can save random RAM access memory, and prevent Discordian spying, and not have to deal with updates.
gollark: I did explain this before, I'm sure.
gollark: Yep!

References
  1. Sarah Dabney Tisdale, Cobb's Web. From grassroots nonprofit to political powerhouse: How Victoria Cobb's Family Foundation became the gatekeeper to Virginia's conservative coalition. styleweekly.com, 29 September 2010.
  2. Victoria Cobb of The Family Foundation. mechteaparty on YouTube, 23 June 2013.
  3. 2016-2017 Virginia General Assembly Report Card. Family Foundation, 2017.
  4. Gabriella Lacombe, Out lesbian hopes to unseat wife of Virginia Family Foundation leader in 2017 Delegate race. Archived from the original at gayrva.com, 14 February 2017.
  5. Brenda Pogge profile, Ballotpedia.
  6. Juan Conde, 8 Questions with Juan Conde: Victoria Cobb. wric.com, 6 July 2016.
  7. Victoria Cobb fights the liberal war on women. TheFamilyFoundation on YouTube, 26 July 2012.
  8. Virginia Health Reform Initiative — About Us Virginia.gov (archived from January 13, 2018).
  9. Amanda Peterson Beadle, Virginia Anti-Abortion Lobbyist Married To Top State Health Official Who Helped Draft Clinic Regulations. Archived from the original at thinkprogress.org, 31 August 2011.
  10. Victoria Cobb profile. Archived from the original at glaad.org, 5 July 2014.
  11. Petula Dvorak, This woman just derailed the Equal Rights Amendment yet again. The Washington Post, 31 January 2019.
  12. Halle Parker and Patrick Wilson, Virginia advocacy groups, political leaders respond to Trump's ban on transgender people in military. Archived from the original at richmond.com, 27 July 2017.
  13. Chelsea Rarrick, Sen. Ted Cruz headlines Family Foundation gala in Richmond. wtvr.com, 5 October 2013.
  14. Kyle Mantyla, “We as Christians, We are Persecuted and Oppressed” Right Wing Watch, 2 October 2008.
  15. Kyle Mantyla, From The Folks Who Brought Us “Rediscovering God In America” Right Wing Watch, 22 June 2009.
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