What If He Were Gay?

OK.  I can't avoid the tabloid comments here.  Unless you've been in a coma today, if you've seen any media reports you know that Josh Duggar, oldest son of the 19-child family, stars of their own reality TV show, has been caught with his pants down.  Sort of.

Apparently when he was 14-15, Josh sexually molested (fondled breasts and genitals) of five girls, some of whom were his sisters.

When Dad Jim-Bob found out, he sat on that knowledge and didn't talk with anybody for a year after the molestations and then reported it to his pal, an Arkansas police officer.  The report was made at the officer's home, not the police station, and, as the officer was himself arrested on a child pornography charge a couple of days later, no charges were ever filed against Josh.  Dad also conferred with his church which advised not to go to the police. 

So Josh was not detained by the law and he received no psychological counseling, but was instead sent off to an uncle who had a logging place or something like that, where he would presumably work off his hormones by working hard, sweaty work.

The Duggars, those paragons of morality, the visible spokespersons for family values have hidden this information for 12 years.  It finally came out when a magazine, based on a tip, did some digging and came up with documentation.

This bothers me so very much on so many accounts.  They talk about what they did for Josh after he molested girls.  Nobody has said anything about what help the girls received after what must have been disturbing experiences at the hand of their son.  

The reaction to this news now is also interesting.  Mom says it was a "dark time" in their family history but that things are better now.

Mike Huckabee has come out in support of Josh:

"Josh’s actions when he was an underage teen are as he described them himself, 'inexcusable,' but that doesn’t mean 'unforgivable.' He and his family dealt with it and were honest and open about it with the victims and the authorities," Huckabee wrote in a post on Facebook. "No purpose whatsoever is served by those who are now trying to discredit Josh or his family by sensationalizing the story. Good people make mistakes and do regrettable and even disgusting things."

Others have said that it is a shame people are making "such a big deal" out of this just because the Duggars are famous.

The Family Research Council, of which is supposedly also a paragon of family values issued this statement:

“Today Josh Duggar made the decision to resign his position as a result of previously unknown information becoming public concerning events that occurred during his teenage years. Josh believes that the situation will make it difficult for him to be effective in his current work. We believe this is the best decision for Josh and his family at this time. We will be praying for everyone involved.”

The organization, committed to protecting children and families, never identifies the “concerning events” nor condemns Duggar’s behavior.

OK.  Let's try this scenario.  The molester is not famous  He's a 14 year old gay boy from a family that nobody has ever heard of.  He molests five other boys.  People find out about it.  

Will the police agree not to book him? Do you suppose he'll just be shipped off to Uncle Al for good, physical work excise his hormonal demons?  Do you suppose everyone will rally around him talking about "youthful indiscretions" and "He's better now, so leave him alone"?

The mother of the child molester is presently campaigning against a bill which would allow trangender women to use the ladies room.  She made a recording for a robocall, part of which says:

“I don’t believe the citizens of Fayetteville would want males with past child predator convictions that claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls. We should never place the preference of an adult over the safety and innocence of a child.”

This from the mother of a known sexual molester with a lie about trangenders designed to evoke fear from Fayetteville parents.  She makes this claim with no evidence that anybody has past child predator convictions, like her son does.  Oh.  Right.  They didn't convict her son because the preference of the adults in his life was to ship him off elsewhere.

This whole thing is so terribly disgusting. But maybe it will knock Huckabee out of the presidential race and reduce the GOP cast of characters wanting the White House down to 18.  Just call me Pollyanna -- always looking for a silver lining.