The Duggars Aren’t The KKK: Why LGBT Bullies Should Stand Down In Attacking TLC Stars

The Duggars, stars of the TLC show 19 Kids and Counting, have been accused of discriminating against the gay community. But a recent petition, and the press attention surrounding it, show there’s actually no difference in what the Duggars are doing and what actions certain LGBT activists are taking.

Let’s start with the petition on Change.org, started by Jim Wissick of San Jose, California. So far, Wissick has amassed 12,500 signatures with a goal of 100,000. He’s well within his right to do that. That’s the great thing about this country. You can petition against things you don’t like.

This was followed with a heavily slanted and poorly researched piece from Huffington Post accusing the Duggars of “discrimination” against the LGBT community, describing the soft-spoken, peaceful family from Northwest Arkansas in terms more in line with violent hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

One of the “discriminatory acts” that HuffPo mentions?

When Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar posted a picture of them mimicking their daughter’s first kiss and then challenged their Facebook followers to do the same, a man posted a picture of him kissing another man.

Naturally, the Duggars, who disagree with the LGBT lifestyle — and more on that word “lifestyle” in a bit — took down the picture.

Yes, the man was free to do that, but you can’t blame someone who disagrees with you for removing something you posted to their Facebook page. That’s not discrimination — not in America anyway, at least not yet.

See, in the U.S., you have the freedom and the right to believe what you want and to take actions promoting those beliefs provided you’re not breaking any laws.

The Duggars haven’t broken any laws. They’ve supported certain candidates, who disagree with the LGBT community as well as the unproven science stating that being gay is completely genetic.

(You can click the link above, but here’s the spoiler alert: research shows it can’t be determined either way whether being gay is about choice or genetics — in fact, the research indicates it’s probably a bit of both.)

Like it or not, the Duggars have an audience who appreciate their brand of family values and the fact that they deliver a half-hour of television each week without using profanity, strong sexual content, or violence in order to sell their show.

The Duggars represent and speak for a section of the country that holds traditional and — more importantly — legal beliefs.

If you don’t want to watch the Duggars, that’s your right. If you want to get them taken off a cable channel then you can try to, as Wissick is attempting, without breaking the law.

But realize that you’re not going to change the way people think about you by stepping into their world, saying vile things about them, and then trying to bully them into accepting you.

In other words, whether it’s on TLC or not, the Duggars will always have an audience. If you want to change that fact then maybe you should start with your approach.