Jana Duggar Lesbian Speculation: Why ‘Counting On’ Fans Shouldn’t Jump To Conclusions About Jana’s Sexuality [Opinion]

Jana Duggar has watched three of her younger sisters get married, and now a fourth one, 19-year-old Joy-Anna, is on her way to the altar. Because 26-year-old Jana is now the only single adult Duggar daughter, some fans of the super-sized family have started to speculate that she’s secretly a lesbian.

According to the Hollywood Gossip, some Counting On fans began discussing Jana Duggar’s sexuality after Joy-Anna Duggar’s courtship was announced during the TLC series’ Season 2 finale. They were disappointed that Jana wasn’t the one in a relationship, and some fans are even worried that she’ll end up being single forever because she’s a lesbian.

“Is it possible that she’s keeping her true sexuality a secret due to her religious family?” one fan wrote on the Counting On Facebook page.

“Maybe Jana doesn’t like guys… just throwing that out there. Either way, I applaud her for taking the time to learn who she is as a person and focusing on her own personal growth before committing to building a relationship with someone,” another commented.

Some Counting On fans mistakenly believe that Jana Duggar can’t be a lesbian because she’s “attractive.”

“Some of these posts are just wrong, why does she have to be Gay as she is not rushing into a relationship when she hasn’t found her true love/soul mate yet. She is far from butch she is a very attractive, intelligent young woman and she is also very independent,” one fan wrote.

To many, it may seem ridiculous to suggest that a young woman is a lesbian simply because she’s not married, especially in a day and age where it’s not uncommon for men and women to wait until they’re in their late 20s or 30s to settle down. In fact, a Pew Research Center report says that the average marriage age for women in 2014 was 27.

However, this is the Duggar family we’re talking about — everything they do is dictated by their extreme, cult-like religious beliefs. Most American women get to date around before they settle down, but Jana Duggar has been taught to believe that this is wrong. Instead, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar urge their kids to enter into “courtships.” As People reports, the Duggars love to remind TLC viewers that the many rules of courtship include chaperoned dates and very limited physical contact (side-hugs only). You don’t enter into a courtship with someone unless you already think that they’re marriage material.

So what does this have to do with the rumors that Jana Duggar is lesbian? Well, it may simply be hard for Jana to find Mr. Right because she’s not allowed to date around, and there are extreme restrictions on who she’s allowed to court. All interested suitors have to go through Jim Bob Duggar, and he only tells his daughter about the guys he approves of. So far, Jana Duggar has not been interested in any of the guys her father has fallen for. As the Daily Mail reports, Jim Bob has also started making his daughters’ suitors fill out 50-page applications. Something like this might scare off a lot of potential mates.

Perhaps Jana Duggar simply isn’t interested in courting because she doesn’t want children — if she were to get married, she’d be expected to start having babies right away. As the Inquisitr previously reported, there’s also some speculation that Jana’s parents are discouraging her from courting because they still need her help taking care of the younger Duggars and running the household.

Unfortunately, the Duggars’ brand of patriarchal fundamentalist Christianity doesn’t give Jana Duggar a lot of options beyond being a stay-at-home daughter or a homemaker. While it’s true that the Duggars don’t forbid their daughters from working — they are fine with the girls helping out with their family businesses — the Duggar daughters can’t pursue careers that require moving out and going to college. They’re all expected to live at their parents’ house until they get married.

If Jana Duggar really is a lesbian, there’s a good chance that she’ll never let anyone know that she is. As Radar Online reports, the Duggar family is so against same-sex marriage and LGBT rights that the oldest Duggar son, Josh, has led anti-gay marriage rallies. Patheos blogger Libby Anne suggests that the Duggar children even have reason to fear any speculation about their sexuality.

“These rumors might make your local homeschool and church community standoffish and suspicious, and they would certainly lead your parents to crack down on any sign of failure to toe the party line. Your every move would be scrutinized.”

According to Libby Anne, some families and communities that share the Duggars’ religious beliefs may shun anyone who is thought to be gay, or they may try to “cure” them.

Perhaps fans should just take Jana Duggar at her own word when it comes to why she’s not courting. The Counting On star told Entertainment Tonight that she has been tempted to marry the first guy who comes along because she really wants to be a wife, but she’s holding out for a “hard-working guy” with “dirt under the nails.”

[Featured Image by Duggar Family/Twitter]