This past Thursday, a bomb went off in the midst of evangelical Christian politics. The Duggars were a symbol of Christian purity. Michelle Duggar’s factory line-like efficiency in churning out 19 children over the years was not just an example of the ineffectiveness of rhythmic birth control, it was an ongoing religious proclamation of God’s will.
This is what makes the hypocrisy regarding the revelations of Josh Duggar’s past so palpable. People who claim to speak for God while casting condemnation on those they deem to be outside their realm, can’t even coherently deal with a drastic moral breach within their own circle.
In statements released by the Duggars (and their supporters), they repeatedly stress their willingness to “forgive” Josh for fondling the breasts and genitals of sleeping children when he was a teenager. But their public persona when it comes to the gay community is anything but forgiving.
A story has emerged about a time when Michelle Duggar allegedly pushed to have a gay crew member of 19 Kids and Counting (the reality show featuring the Duggars) fired.
Speaking anonymously to Gawker, a woman who claims to have worked on the TLC show in 2008 says she witnessed a bizarre coddling of the Duggar family’s worldview, which was deeply skewed because they didn’t own a television or have an Internet connection at the time, leaving their reality to be shaped by “second hand church gossip” which was their “only link to anything outside of Arkansas.”
“We were constantly reminded that we were not to upset them or taint their version of the world, which is why they wanted limited conversation,” the woman told Gawker. “Even a lighthearted conversation that might actually educate them about something they were horribly ignorant about was seen as tainting their view. It was very much like being told to not tell your little sister about Santa Claus.”
So, during the leadup to their first family trip to New York to appear on the Today Show, Michelle started approaching some of us about New York and if it’s “scary for kids”. Because Michelle came to us, it was acceptable to entertain conversing with her but producers would always rush over and monitor the conversation. That very day we had a couple of crewmembers new to the set not familiar with the drill. She had directed this question to four of us who all happened to be standing together. As tempting as it was to give some ridiculous answer, the producer’s face reminded us to just be polite and give her the answer she wants. Well, the followup question is when it went completely off the rails. “Well, I hear the city is overrun by ….. gays… has that been causing a lot of problems?” One of the new crewmembers laughed and said “Why don’t you ask “Jimmy”? (Changed his name) and then proceeds to yell over his shoulder “Hey, Jimmy, you giving the city lots of problems???” Jimmy as you can guess, was gay, but this fact was completely lost on the Duggars.
Michelle asked point blank “So … you’re …. gay???” The four of us are staring at this from a distance as if we’re on the edge of our seats, completely shocked that someone in 2008 would even do that, and Jimmy … suddenly strikes a pose like a model in a pinup photo, and responds “Well, darling, depends on who’s asking!” Holy shit, the four of us watching were doubled over in pain laughing so hard at this. …
It was soon after discovered that Jimmy was fired from the set, with the official reason being that he was “causing conflicts with the talent.” Of course, no one was buying that explanation.
“He was fired 100% because he was gay and for no other reason,” the woman said.
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