Family Foundation

{{politics}}
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.<ref>Sarah Dabney Tisdale, [https://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/cobbs-web/Content?oid=1365121 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.</ref> The foundation is affiliated with [[Focus on the Family]].<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12KHRejgyAo Victoria Cobb of The Family Foundation]. mechteaparty on [[YouTube]], 23 June 2013.</ref>

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, [[Homophobia|sexual orientation discrimination]], transgender bathroom access, the [[Equal Rights Amendment]], informed consent to [[abortion]], health and safety standards for abortion clinics, [[Hate crime]]s, and [[Sexual orientation|sexual-orientation]] counseling. All of the legislators with perfect scores are [[Republicans]].<ref>[https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5682e271a976af97bb8dde6a/t/5915f602e3df2885fc56513d/1494611517198/TFFofV_2017-Report-Card_WEB+%281%29.pdf 2016-2017 Virginia General Assembly Report Card.] Family Foundation, 2017.</ref>

The organization is led by [[Victoria Cobb]]. Roger Pogge, the husband of former Virginia delegate Brenda Pogge, is the Foundation's Ministry Relations Coordinator.<ref>Gabriella Lacombe, [http://www.gayrva.com/news-views/out-lesbian-hopes-to-unseat-wife-of-virginia-family-foundation-leader-in-2017-delegate-race/ 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.</ref><ref>[https://ballotpedia.org/Brenda_Pogge Brenda Pogge profile], Ballotpedia.</ref>

==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]].<ref>Juan Conde, [http://wric.com/2016/07/06/8-questions-with-juan-conde-victoria-cobb/ 8 Questions with Juan Conde: Victoria Cobb]. wric.com, 6 July 2016.</ref> She claims that the [[Political spectrum|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.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYUbSCaOvbA Victoria Cobb fights the liberal war on women]. TheFamilyFoundation on YouTube, 26 July 2012.</ref>

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]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180113163226/https://hhr.virginia.gov/initiatives/health-reform/about/ Virginia Health Reform Initiative &mdash; About Us] Virginia.gov (archived from January 13, 2018).</ref> helping lead the office in charge of interpreting abortion regulations.<ref>Amanda Peterson Beadle, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190611073640/https://thinkprogress.org/virginia-anti-abortion-lobbyist-married-to-top-state-health-official-who-helped-draft-clinic-d61dd5a99506/ 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.</ref>

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.”<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140705093034/https://www.glaad.org/cap/victoria-cobb Victoria Cobb profile]. Archived from the original at glaad.org, 5 July 2014.</ref>

In 2019, Cobb successfully [[Lobbying|lobbied]] a subcommittee of the Virginia state legislature to prevent passage of the [[Equal Rights Amendment]].<ref>Petula Dvorak, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/this-woman-just-derailed-the-equal-rights-amendment-yet-again/2019/01/31/9e32ec22-2551-11e9-90cd-dedb0c92dc17_story.html This woman just derailed the Equal Rights Amendment yet again]. ''[[The Washington Post]]'', 31 January 2019.</ref>

==Agenda==
[[File:Family Foundation Typical Family.jpeg|thumb|right|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 "[[Pro life|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.<ref>Halle Parker and Patrick Wilson, [https://web.archive.org/web/20170727013600/http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/virginia-advocacy-groups-political-leaders-respond-to-trump-s-ban/article_f6c55a65-f60c-5058-84ae-55f288a55438.html 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.</ref>

In 2013 and 2016, [[Ted Cruz]] addressed the foundation's annual gala.<ref>Chelsea Rarrick, [https://www.wtvr.com/2013/10/05/sen-cruz-keynote-speaker-at-family-foundation-gala Sen. Ted Cruz headlines Family Foundation gala in Richmond]. wtvr.com, 5 October 2013.</ref>

==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]]".<ref>Kyle Mantyla, [http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/we-as-christians-we-are-persecuted-and-oppressed/ “We as Christians, We are Persecuted and Oppressed”] Right Wing Watch, 2 October 2008.</ref> 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.”<ref>Kyle Mantyla, [http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/from-the-folks-who-brought-us-rediscovering-god-in-america/ From The Folks Who Brought Us “Rediscovering God In America”] Right Wing Watch, 22 June 2009.</ref>

==External links==
*[http://www.familyfoundation.org/ Official site]
*[https://twitter.com/TFFVA Twitter]
*[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeyPueYDiJgV0chnGRWkUYQ YouTube channel]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Organizations]]
[[Category:Christianity]]

Categories: Organizations, Christianity