New York Christians Learn, Then Lobby the Legislature for Faith, Freedom and Family

There are significant bills pending in the New York legislature this year that will affect the state’s families, pro and con. Those include everything from establishing an LGBT history curriculum in the public schools, to comprehensive sex education in the schools beginning in kindergarten, to providing a personal state income tax deduction for adopting a child out of the state’s foster system.

New Yorkers Family Research Foundation is a Focus-affiliated state group headed by Jason McGuire. McGuire’s group is sponsoring a one-day conference in Albany, New York on March 17 called Ever Upward – Legislative Day 2020. It is designed to educate and motivate Christians concerning the issues of the day. Mike Farris of Alliance Defending Freedom, David Barton of Wallbuilders, Katy Faust of Them Before Us and Timothy Goeglein of Focus on the Family will be speaking in the morning.

In the afternoon, the New Yorkers Family Research Foundation’s sister organization, New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, will sponsor a lobbying visit by attendees to the state Capitol where they can meet with their elected representatives and staff to discuss how they feel about the various pending bills affecting families.

900 people are registered, so far, for Legislative Day. McGuire is hoping for 1,400 participants.

Pro-family legislation could be tough to pass in New York now that Democrats control both houses of the Legislature as well as the governor’s mansion after the 2018 election. In 2019, for example, the legislature passed a bill prohibiting pro-life employers from enforcing statements of faith and biblical conduct policies when it came to the issue of abortion. Another law allows abortion at any point during pregnancy. The awful New York abortion bill that legalized abortion through the end of pregnancy was a major motivation behind the Focus on the Family event a few months later, Alive From New York: Seeing Life Clearly in Times Square, that featured a live ultrasound of Abby Johnson’s preborn baby.

McGuire notes that each legislative session takes on a distinctive them. He says that for 2020, “the issues pertinent to Christians and other social conservatives revolve around parental rights.”

Kudos to Jason and his organizations for leading the charge in educating and motivating Christians to stand for righteousness in the public square. Focus on the Family is proud to stand with 40 state family policy councils around the country committed to the same ideal.

Register here for New York’s Ever Upward – Legislative Day 2020

UPDATE:  the 2020 Legislative Day at the NY Capitol has been canceled due to the coronavirus.