On the first day of Pride, Governor Mike Braun proclaimed that June is “Nuclear Family Month,” defining a nuclear family as having “one husband, one wife, and biological, adopted, or foster children.” Hoosiers see this for what it is: part of a larger effort to attack LGBTQ people and the many ways workers create families.
Braun’s “Nuclear Family” advances a narrow view of the family that tries to erase how Indiana families actually live. Braun’s definition leaves out blended families, LGBTQ families, single parents, multigenerational families, and Hoosiers who live alone or with relatives. According to U.S Census data, only 18% of the 2.7 million Indiana households fit Braun’s narrow definition of a “family.”
Indiana does not have a minimum wage, so bosses can pay the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour, last raised in 2009. A full-time worker at the minimum wage earns just $15,080/year before taxes. After deductions, pay can fall to around $12,000/year, barely enough for rent, food, or the childcare a family needs. Families need the workers in them to be paid a dignified, liveable wage to be able to grow and thrive appropriately.
Infant daycare in Indiana averages over $13,000/year, consuming 20-21% of median household income, TRIPLING the federal “affordable” benchmark of 7%. Even toddler care comes to average around $10,600/year.
These costs alone can exceed what a worker held to the minimum wage EARNS in an entire year, making having children inaccessible for many Hoosiers. If families are going to grow, family leave and childcare must be greatly expanded.
Indiana faces rising healthcare costs and limited affordability, with marketplace premiums increasing 26.5% in 2026.
Inflation drives prices higher and higher for everything but labor. Housing has increased in price by more than 50%. A comparable rise in wages would take a minimum-wage worker to $23,000/year.
Meanwhile, new SNAP restrictions affect more than 700,000 households across the state, overwhelmingly impacting low-income families already struggling.
Braun’s order claims that when families “weaken,” society must compensate with “inferior” systems like welfare or schools acting as “surrogate parents.”
Hoosier families aren’t weak—capitalism is! Families need support, not to be crushed. Families need socialism!