The Family Leader (stylized The FAMiLY LEADER) is an American socially conservative umbrella group comprising The Family Leader Foundation, Marriage Matters, Iowa Family PAC, and Iowans for Freedom. The Family Leader is loosely affiliated with the national social conservative organization

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations ...

. According to its website, The Family Leader "provides a consistent, courageous voice in the churches, in the legislature, in the media, in the courtroom, in the public square...always standing for God’s truth."

Arms of the organization

*The Iowa Family Policy Center is the educational arm and works through the media and also operates the Iowa Liberty Justice Center, a

public interest The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. Overview Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefore ...

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

handling cases "in the areas of religious liberty, family values, or sanctity of life." *Marriage Matters seeks to strengthen marriage through individual mentoring and seminars. *The Iowa Family PAC is a political action committee which supports social conservative candidates. It was formed in 2004 *Iowa for Freedom "stands up against judicial activism" and was heavily involved in the campaign to remove three

Iowa Supreme Court The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 E ...

justices who legalized

same-sex marriage in Iowa Same-sex marriage in Iowa has been legally recognized since a decision of the Iowa Supreme Court on April 3, 2009. Marriage licenses became available to same-sex couples on April 27. In 2005, six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses ...

in the ''

Varnum v. Brien ''Varnum v. Brien'', 763 N.W.2d 862 (Iowa 2009), was an Iowa Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously held that the state's limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples violated the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution. The ...

'' case.

2012 presidential election

Through the new group, the organization planned to play a more influential role in the 2012 Iowa caucus campaigns than in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, including offering an endorsement for the first time. In mid-2011, The Family Leader gained national recognition for its pledge, "

The Marriage Vow The Marriage Vow or "The Marriage Vow - A Declaration of Dependence Upon Marriage and Family" is a political pledge created by Bob Vander Plaats, a former candidate for Iowa governor, and the Iowa-based conservative group; The Family Leader, a publi ...

: A Declaration of Dependence upon MARRIAGE and FAMILY", which it asked 2012 presidential hopefuls to sign. Vander Plaats himself also gained recognition, being referred to in one news post as a "kingmaker". ''The Hill'' claimed Vander Plaats' endorsement as one of the top 10 coveted endorsements for Republicans running for president. Though the pledge was signed very quickly by candidate Michele Bachmann, others were not so quick to sign or support it. Former Iowa State Senator Jeff Angelo, a Republican, said: "This pledge is an attempt to shut down dialogue between voters and the people vying to represent them." Presidential hopeful

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...

called the pledge "undignified and inappropriate". Romney's campaign later clarified that he would not sign because language in the pledge made the assertion that African American children born into slavery in 1860 were better off than children raised today. He was not the only one to take issue with this language. The "slavery portion" of the pledge was soon removed. After the controversies with the pledge, House Speaker Pro-Tem Jeff Kaufmann, said the pledge has "ridiculous implications", questioned Vander Plaats' integrity, and said that his "political credibility is waning to the point of no impact." In November and December 2011, the organization "agonized" over whether to make an endorsement and whom to endorse. After removing

Herman Cain Herman Cain (December 13, 1945July 30, 2020) was an American businessman and Tea Party movement activist within the Republican Party. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Cain grew up in Georgia and graduated from Morehouse College with a bachelor's d ...

, Jon Huntsman,

Ron Paul Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, physician and retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1979 to 1985, as well ...

, and

from consideration, the seven-member board of directors of the organization could not decide on one candidate among

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...

, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republica ...

. The organization announced on December 20, 2011 that it would officially stay neutral and instead allow board members to make their own endorsements; Vander Plaats and Hurley endorsed Santorum.

References

External links

The Family Leader
{{DEFAULTSORT:Family Leader, The Non-profit organizations based in Iowa Political organizations based in the United States Conservative organizations in the United States Polk County, Iowa