Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Declares January 22 ‘Day of Tears’ in Arkansas

Abortion, , , , ,

Last week Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a proclamation designating January 22, 2025, as the “Day of Tears.”

In 2021 the Arkansas General Assembly passed H.C.R. 1007 recognizing January 22 — the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s infamous Roe v. Wade abortion decision — as The Day of Tears in Arkansas and encouraging Arkansans to lower their flags to half-staff every year on January 22.

Even though Roe v. Wade has been overturned and abortion is prohibited in Arkansas except to save the life of the mother, it is good to set aside time to reflect on how abortion took the lives of women and unborn children for so many decades — and how many lives it still takes in America today.

Gov. Sanders’ proclamation says:

TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS COME – GREETINGS:

WHEREAS: Arkansas and its government acknowledge that we are all endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;

WHEREAS: On January 22,1973, the majority of the members of the United States Supreme Court wrongly ruled in its Roe v. Wade decision that abortion was a right secured by the United States Constitution;

WHEREAS: Before the United States Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade, Arkansas had already enacted laws protecting women and unborn children from abortion; 

WHEREAS: From January 22, 1973, to June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade prevented Arkansas from protecting women and unborn children from abortion;

WHEREAS: In Act 310 of 2023 the 94th General Assembly estimated that during that time at least two hundred thirty-six thousand, two hundred forty-three (236,243) elective abortions occurred in this State, jeopardizing the health and safety of pregnant women and depriving these unborn children of their respective rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and

WHEREAS: The Ninety-Third General Assembly resolved in H.C.R. 1007 of 2021 that January 22 should be recognized in perpetuity as the “Day of Tears” in Arkansas and encouraged Arkansans to lower their flags to half-staff “to mourn the innocent unborn children who have lost their lives to abortion.”

NOW, THEREFORE, I, SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, Governor of the State of Arkansas, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the laws of the State of Arkansas, do hereby proclaim January 22, 2025, as 

“THE DAY OF TEARS IN ARKANSAS”

You can download a copy of the proclamation here.

Family Council is deeply grateful to Gov. Sanders and the general assembly for recognizing January 22 as the Day of Tears in Arkansas, and we urge all of our friends to take time this month to remember the lives lost to abortion.

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Pixar’s LGBTQ Reversal: Guest Column

LGBT,

If this were a movie trailer, I might begin this commentary with the line, “In a world where Dylan Mulvaney almost destroyed Bud Light. . . .” As it turns out, the 2023 incident when a transgender activist crashed sales of America’s best-selling beer was a turning point. Since then, we’ve seen a number of companies respond to public pushback on gender ideology. In fact, the latest example may be the most surprising.  

A couple of weeks ago, Hollywood Reporter revealed that the animation giant Pixar’s new original streaming series Win or Lose “will no longer include” a planned transgender storyline. A spokesperson for Disney confirmed the report, explaining, 

When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline. 

This welcome news could not be more different than the tune Disney has been singing for years. In 2017, the director of the live-action Beauty and the Beast trumpeted its “exclusively gay moment.” 2022’s Lightyear featured a same-sex kiss, and Disney’s Strange World featured a gay relationship. And of course, it’s a big change from 2022, when then-CEO Bob Chepek led Disney in open political activism against Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Chepek ultimately lost the battle, along with his job.  

In all these instances, there was no hesitation by Disney to push “certain topics” on children or their parents. What is behind the about-face? Perhaps it’s because Disney and its studios have experienced their own “Mulvaney moment.” According to Hollywood Reporter, Pixar decided to remove the trans subplot in Win or Lose about the same time as major layoffs in that studio and in its parent company. Those cuts followed a steady lineup of box office flops involving LGBTQ themes. In fact, Disney has been bleeding out financially for a while, with one news site describing how “high-budget movie failures, combined with challenges in their streaming and theme park operations” left the Mouse House in a “rocky” spot by the second half of 2024. 

The idea that parents are best suited to handle these controversial topics with their kids would have been viciously denounced back in 2020 as “homophobic” and “transphobic.” Scathing opinion pieces in The New York Times and other outlets would have called consumers to boycott and punish Disney. Apparently, even at the happiest place on earth, times are changing.  

There are other examples. A former Pixar employee told IGN that Inside Out 2, which released in June, was also supposed to include an LGBTQ subplot. However, writers were told to make the main character “less gay.” As it turns out, the “less gay” film turned the year around for Pixar, earning its biggest box office return ever.   

While it’s too early to declare victory here, it does feel as if an ideological fever has broken. Woke ideology, especially on the issue of gender, has culturally faltered. In fact, more companies and candidates see it as a financial and political liability.  

If an entertainment juggernaut like Disney is forced to give up on the propaganda, what does that mean for this movement that has seemed untouchable for so long? What does that say about the proclamation that certain beliefs and activists are “on the right side of history” and Christians on the “wrong side”? 

Perhaps the most important lesson to take from Disney’s and Pixar’s about-face is to soundly reject the “inevitability narrative.” Cultural degradation is not certain, and Christians do not have to perpetually retreat. Sometimes, pushing back makes a difference, especially for companies forced to feel the bottom line and for politicians forced to feel it at the ballot box. If enough people are willing to stand up and challenge powerful interests promoting perversion, history can appear to switch sides … or at least slow its march in the wrong direction.  

Ironically, we have Dylan Mulvaney to thank for this shift, at least in part. Trans activists pushed too far and too fast. However, there are plenty of others: Billboard Chris, Riley Gaines, Ryan Anderson, Alliance Defending Freedom, Abigail Shrier, and the 1792 Project are just a few, notable woke warriors. Not on that list are the churches and pastors and Christian leaders who thought the risk of speaking out would be “too costly” for their platform or would “get in the way of the Gospel.” They were the ones on the wrong side of history.

Copyright 2025 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

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ERA or Error? President Biden Calls Equal Rights Amendment ‘Law of the Land’

Legislation, LGBT, , ,

On Friday outgoing President Joe Biden made a surprising announcement declaring the Equal Rights Amendment “the law of the land.”

Congress referred the federal Equal Rights Amendment to the state legislatures for ratification in 1972. If approved by enough states, the measure would amend the U.S. Constitution to say, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

However, the amendment’s legal status has been in limbo for nearly 50 years, and federal courts have even ruled against adding it to the U.S. Constitution.

The Equal Rights Amendment is intended to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex, but its wording would likely cause a number of unintended consequences.

The ERA would arguably erase all distinctions between men and women in federal law.

That could affect everything from college fraternities and sororities at public universities to how men and women are housed in federal prisons to labor laws that protect women in the workplace to girls’ and boys’ athletics at public schools.

We’ve already seen how the transgender movement is threatening to destroy women’s sports in America. The Equal Rights Amendment would likely fuel that agenda.

States that have enacted measures similar to the ERA have even been forced to pay for abortions with taxpayer funds. In 2019, the ACLU told Congress, “the Equal Rights Amendment could provide an additional layer of protection against restrictions on abortion.”

Men and women should have equal rights under the law, but the ERA would likely fail to guarantee those rights.

That’s why major groups like National Right to Life, Concerned Women for America, and Eagle Forum oppose the federal Equal Rights Amendment.

That’s also why Family Council has opposed efforts to ratify the ERA in Arkansas as well.

President Biden cannot unilaterally decide that the Equal Rights Amendment is part of the U.S. Constitution. As he leaves office, it seems unlikely that the ERA will actually become “the law of the land.” Nevertheless, it’s important for Americans to understand how the amendment would likely hurt women, unborn children, and our country as a whole.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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