Our bubbled mainstream media got a serious crash-course in reality this week with the revelations that Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio don’t hate gays, and that Bruce Jenner, who is in the process of transitioning into a woman, remains a Christian Republican.
During a two-hour interview Friday night, Jenner said to a noticeably puzzled Diane Sawyer, “I’ve always been more on the conservative side.” Still in shock, Sawyer then asked if he’s a Republican. Jenner responded in the affirmative, ”Yeah. Is that a bad thing? I believe in the Constitution.” Jenner also said he was a Christian and not a Barack Obama fan.
The left-wing Huffington Post is even more confused than Ms. Sawyer. The Daily Caller’s Betsy Rothstein notes that HuffPo has saturated its site in overnight Jenner coverage without once managing to reveal his identity as a Christian Republican.
Newflash: Jenner didn’t get a brain transplant.
Earlier this same week, among others, The New York Times was flabbergasted to discover that Republican Senator Ted Cruz would love his daughters just as much if they were gay. Cruz was also the star of a political event this week hosted by two openly gay hoteliers. The Times was so startled by this Cruz felt compelled to issue a statement.
“It speaks volumes that the New York Times considers it newsworthy that a Republican who believes marriage is between a man and a woman would meet with people who hold a different view,” said Cruz.
Another Republican presidential hopeful, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, made all kinds of headlines when he said something that would not surprise anyone who has spent any amount of time with a conservative Christian — that he would attend a same sex wedding. Out here in the real world this is a dog-bites-man story. Nevertheless, our media considered it as newsworthy as the sinking of the Titanic.
The media’s ignorance when it comes to how conservatives and Christians view everything, including gays, is an obvious byproduct of bigotry, ignorance, and an insulated echo chamber.
I personally do not know a single conservative Christian who hates homosexuals. Moreover, I don’t know any conservative Christian who takes issue with offering, through civil unions, committed same sex couples all the same rights married couples enjoy.
The last person to use the word “fag” in my presence was a liberal celebrity, and the look on my face made vocalizing my disapproval unnecessary.
Like most everyone else in America, legions of conservatives and Christians live and work, and dare I say, coexist just fine with their openly gay friends, co-workers, and relatives. America has come a long way in a very short time when it comes to recognizing the humanity of homosexuals, and that is truly a wonderful thing. And long overdue.
Where we disagree is on the political issue of same sex marriage, and despite what the media believes, holding the same opinion on gay marriage that Barack Obama did two years ago, and Hillary Clinton did 2 minutes ago, does not make one a Nazi.
Moreover, I personally don’t know of any Christian or conservative who doesn’t fully grasp the Biblical notion that sin is a verb, not a person. Like sex outside of marriage or lying, homosexuality is a sin, being gay is not. We are all sinners, and we are all children of God.
The mainstream media is positively drunk on its own sanctimonious ideas of diversity, inclusion and tolerance of different cultures and ideas. And yet this same mainstream media regularly displays a stunning ignorance when it comes to understanding a political and religious culture held by something like, oh, 100 million Americans.
This ignorance breeds hate, which in turn breeds a bigotry that includes a wildly unfair stereotyping that regularly finds its way into news coverage.
For decades there was a same sex couple in my family. Together, they raised a wonderful son who is currently serving his country. Had they decided to marry, I would have been honored to attend and to bring the cake. Loving a gay family member and wanting to see him or her happy in no way contradicts or conflicts with my opposition to same sex marriage anymore than wanting the same happiness for my very liberal mother and sister.
Unlike the elite media, conservatives and Christians are the true liberals. We’re the ones able to separate one’s politics and identity from one’s humanity.
Bruce Jenner is about to discover that conservatives and Christians will be much more tolerant towards his transitioning than so-called progressives are of his political beliefs.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC