Emergency action seeks to prevent erasure of 'mother' and 'father' in code of largest US town
Officials in America's most populated township are taking urgent action to stop a Democrat-backed bill that would replace "mother" and "father" in New York State law with gender-neutral parental terms.
The emergency resolution from Hempstead Township comes just days after New York State Legislature passed a bill that would replace "mother" with the term "gestating parent" and "father" with "non-gestating parent." It would also change "paternity" to "parentage."
Democrats say the measure is an effort to be more "inclusive" of the state's residents with non-traditional "gender identities." It is now awaiting action from Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Hempstead Township Supervisor John Ferretti told Fox News Digital the legislation is "woke nonsense."
"As a father of two, it was an insult to me and to my wife," Ferretti said in an interview on Tuesday. "As soon as I learned, the first thing I did was bring my wife into our bedroom and say, 'Look what they did up in Albany. They're eliminating the terms mother and father from state law.'"
His nine-year-old daughter overheard the conversation and got upset, asking Ferretti: "Can I still call you dad?"
"It really hit close to home," he continued. "We need to take a stand in the Town of Hempstead, the largest township in America, and make sure that we make it clear not just to residents in the Town of Hempstead, but to residents throughout New York State, that we won't stand for this kind of woke nonsense."
While the 2026 legislative session ended last week, Hochul has until the end of the year to sign the bill into law. Hochul told reporters last week that she had not yet reviewed the proposal.
"I have until the end of the year to review them and make a decision, so I won't be commenting on pending legislation," Hochul said during a news conference, according to FOX 5 New York.
Ferretti said he hopes Hochul ultimately rejects the bill, but said she'll wait to act until after the election "because she's not brave enough to take a stand."
He said that the emergency resolution in Hempstead is intended to ensure the town continues recognizing the terms "mother" and "father" in its own laws and policies, regardless of whether the state measure ultimately becomes law.
"We're taking a stand because we will not allow woke Democrat liberals in New York State and the New York State Legislature to erase the traditional family," Ferretti said. "They did not pass a law that adds language. They passed a law that erases mother and father from certain statutes under New York state law, and that's completely unacceptable."
"If Albany wanted to add additional language to their state laws, they could have added additional language, and we would not be discussing this right now," Ferretti continued. "Instead, they chose to erase mother and father and replace it, and we won't stand for that."
Ferretti said the resolution has garnered support from Republican lawmakers representing Nassau County, including Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra, state Sen. Steve Rhoads, Assemblywoman Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick and other members of the county's Republican legislative delegation.
Republican gubernatorial candidate and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman also blasted the proposal on social media.
"In Kathy Hochul's New York, 'mom' is now defined as 'gestating parent,'" Blakeman wrote. "Not when I'm Governor! I'll stand up for moms and dads against this insanity."
The fight marks the latest cultural flashpoint involving Hempstead, a Republican-led township of roughly 800,000 residents located on Long Island and within Nassau County. Hempstead officials previously backed measures include a push to keep biological males from competing in girls' and women's sports athletic facilities operated by Hempstead Township.
Conservative groups are also mobilizing against the parental-language bill.
"It's just absurd, but also inherently dehumanizing," Maggie McKneely with Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee told Fox News Digital.
"It reduces women to just their reproductive organs, but women are so much more than that. They are individuals with unique abilities and capabilities, and yes, motherhood is one of the greatest things that a woman can be. Being a mother is an incredible gift," McKneely continued.
"Women do so much more than that, and to reduce them to just whether or not they are capable of gestating a child is really sad and dehumanizing. To reduce men to being just non-gestating people is just really sad."
Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul's office for comment.