I haven’t really written about the Duggar family before because I feel for their kids still at home. They had no say about being thrust into the national spotlight, and invariably criticism of Jim Bob and Michelle turns into snark about the kids, and I don’t want that. Before I go any farther, let me say that any attacks on the Duggar children in the comments will be deleted. They didn’t ask for this, and with the exception of Josh, who has chosen to become a professional activist with hate group FRC Action, they need to be off limits.
That aside, the reason I’ve broken my self-imposed “No Duggars” rule is because of Michelle Duggar’s robocalls against Fayetteville, AR’s proposed LGBT non-discrimination ordinance. I’ve embedded the audio Jeremy Hooper provided on GoodAsYou after the cut. Be warned, it’s a rather disturbing anti-trans diatribe about how transwomen are men who are trying to be predatory towards women and children.
In response to this virulent attack on trans* people and their identities, a group of former homeschool kids has created the hashtag #DuggarHypocrisy.
Here’s why.
While Michelle Duggar pretends to be concerned about sexual predators targeting women and children, Michelle and Jim Bob have remained silent as both Bill Gothard and Doug Phillips’ sexually predatory behavior was exposed.
Shaney Lee has detailed the Duggar’s ties to Bill Gothard and their promotion of Gothard’s material, it’s an important read. Micah Murray’s post on the Duggars and Gothard is also more than sufficient to demonstrate the close ties the Duggars have with Gothard.
As for the Duggars and Doug Phillips, in 2010, Michelle received the “Mother of the Year“ award from Doug Phillps. As documented by the Christian Post, before Vision Forum went under they sold DVD’s such as “Tea with Michelle Duggar,” a Vision Forum-produced video narrated by Doug Phillips’ wife Beall.
Surely someone so concerned about protecting children from predators as to record a robocall attacking trans* people as all being predators would have said something in condemnation of these two sexual predators, Doug Phillips and Bill Gothard, who they promoted. Certainly it would be of utmost importance to warn their fans to stay far, far away from men like Phillips and Gothard.
Crickets.
Michelle Duggar is busy inventing a vicious slander against trans* people as predators but can’t be bothered to lift a finger to say anything about the actual predators she promotes. Phillips and Gothard really are predators targeting vulnerable young women, and if Michelle is bothered by this fact she certainly isn’t showing it.
Attacking trans* people as predators while ignoring the real predators, Phillips and Gothard, is the height of hypocrisy.
Michelle Duggar doesn’t care about protecting children, she cares about legalized discrimination against one of the most vulnerable segments of society.
The slander that trans* people are looking to prey on women and children in bathrooms and fitting rooms is responsible for countless incidents of violence against trans* people. The lie Michelle Duggar told is the same lie that has caused trans* people to be murdered. Repeating that lie is putting trans* people’s very lives in danger.
But hey, the Duggars bring in ratings dollars to TLC, so who cares if Michelle is running around spreading deadly lies about trans* people? Certainly not the network that is getting rich off of the series.
Making matters worse, the Duggars aren’t just any celebrities, they’re homeschool celebrities. The Duggar family is a role model for other homeschool families, and homeschoolers look to them as an example. When Michelle Duggar campaigns against an LGBT non-discrimination ordinance, homeschool kids are watching and some of those kids are LGBT.
And yes, that means that some of those homeschool kids who are hearing Michelle Duggar call trans* people predators are trans* themselves. One such former homeschooler, Haley, told her story for Homeschooler’s Anonymous, and her wife, Melissa blogged about their coming out story. Michelle Duggar just made it even harder for trans* homeschool kids because she added a trusted homeschool voice to the cacophony of voices invalidating trans* people’s existence.
Michelle Duggar needs to apologize for her attack on trans* people. As for TLC, they created the nationwide platform by giving the Duggars a show, they need to stop pretending that Jim Bob and Michelle are just folksy down home types and not the political activists that they are.
The entertainment media consistently ignores all stories about Duggar political activism in favor of fluff pieces for page views, we need to work to change that narrative.
Until Michelle Duggar apologizes, join me and other former homeschool kids in calling attention to her bigotry and hypocrisy using the #DuggarHypocrisy tag on twitter.
Lets make this a national news story that the media can no longer ignore.