GLAAD reports that the eldest child of the Duggar clan, that “normal, mainstream family” who are actually members of the extremist Christian cult known as Quiverfull, has taken a job as the executive director of the Action side of the Family Research Council hate group. This means that Josh Duggar is now officially, on top of being a TLC reality show star right up there in credibility with any Kardashian, a professional anti-gay activist:
Josh Duggar, the oldest of the Duggar children from TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting, has accepted a job at the Family Research Council (FRC), making him an outright anti-gay activist. FRC has been classified as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and has a long history of attacking the LGBT community and their friends, family and allies.
Duggar has said in the past that he “will be working with a Christian organization to help promote ‘family values and right to life.” But FRC has spent decades attacking same-sex couples and their families, as well as the families of LGBT young people. Duggar said that he will be working on the 501c4 side of the organization, which is more politically driven. He can’t even claim he’s just going to shape the culture.
Now that Josh Duggar has accepted a position at such an anti-gay organization, he has become a full-fledged anti-gay activist. What does this mean for TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting? Will TLC allow it to become a mainstream outlet for FRC’s dangerous message? What about the Duggar family’s appearances in other media? Will his work with one of the most vile anti-gay organizations in America be legitimized there?
“If Josh Duggar wants to make a living dehumanizing and denigrating LGBT people and their families, that’s his business, but FRC’s lies and stereotypes need to be treated as such,” said GLAAD Spokesperson Wilson Cruz. “Josh’s new boss Tony Perkins has actually accused LGBT equality advocates of being pawns of the devil. Fans of his family’s reality show ought to know that.”
We agree. Will Josh fade into obscurity as a character now that he’s moving to Washington, DC, or will the show’s fans, many of whom would be repulsed if they realized what sort of extremists the Duggars really are, be subjected to the Family Research Council’s constant anti-gay propaganda? Or will TLC actually take an opportunity to live up to their name and educate viewers on the hate group little Josh has joined?
Jeremy Hooper adds his own exhortation to TLC:
Not only is Josh going to work at FRC, but he’s actually going to work on the action side. This kid is going to head up FRC’s Political Action Committee! This means that he won’t even be able to claim he’s just commentating or advocating or something else that sounds sweet and innocent. No, no—this reality TV scion is going to be heading up the wing of FRC that goes against us on the hill, in state legislatures, at the ballot box, etc. He has taken a position that directly seeks to stop (or even rollback) our rights and protections!
Look, it’s his life, his career, and his choice. In terms of the gig itself, I say bring it! I’m more than ready to challenge whatever he plans.
But don’t even try, TLC network, to position Josh’s story as something that should warm the fires within my own heart and home. That ship has sailed. This TLC star is going to be paid to spearhead a quest that seeks to diminish, if not completely extinguish, all that I hold dear within my own marriage, family, and home. Forget carefully edited reality TV—for me and millions of others, this crap just got really real. For real.
For real.
