All families deserve rights, respect, and recognition and Woodhull is dedicated to advancing, respecting and protecting the fundamental human right to family by eliminating discrimination based on family structure and relationship choices.

In the United States, the human right to family is violated daily. This violation is rooted in the genocide of Indigenous peoples and slavery, and it continues into a modern-day where children of immigrants are being forcefully separated from their families and communities of color and LGBT communities who have forged chosen families are denied the right to legal recognition and protection of their families.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the family as “the natural and fundamental group unit of society” that is “entitled to protection by society and the State” (UDHR16). Further, Article 8 protects your right to respect for your private and family life. The right to family and relationships is an essential human right. Some families are legally recognized and socially respected; others are not. All families, regardless of structure, matter.

We all deserve the ability to form safe, healthy families and relationships, whether biological or chosen, monogamous or non monogamous, with or without children. To do so, we must have resources to support ourselves and others, from childcare to healthcare to education.

Families that do not conform to the State’s rigid definition of family experience not only stigma but discrimination in vital systems of support for individuals and families: housing, insurance coverage, immigration, and custody. Family and relationships converge with many human rights, including the right to health, the right to reproductive freedom, the right to privacy, and the right to education.