We all cling to the idea that pants-wearing Jinger Duggar is a rebel in the family, and that’s even true … up to a point.
She knew even back when they were courting that her husband, Jeremy Vuolo, clashes with Jim Bob Duggar over multiple points. Jeremy’s the one who now allows her to wear pants, and more.
But Jeremy’s latest conflict with the Duggars isn’t winning him any love from fans. In fact, Jeremy Vuolo is coming across as more extreme in his anti-LGBT beliefs.
The Duggar family would love for the general public to think of them as folksy, lovable Christians who have a lot of kids and make for entertaining reality stars.
Why? Because that means more viewers, which means that Counting On can go on and on and on.
They’d like for some of their viewers, at least, to regard them as role models on how to form a Christian family and live by the laws that they believe.
That means being diehard fundamentalists who live on the fringes of society. That means having as many children as you physically can and raising them in a frighteningly strict manner, forcing your beliefs upon them.
And more.
The Duggars are avowed male supremacists who claim that their lifestyle is Biblically ordained.
(Most Biblical scholars and the vast majority of Christians would disagree, but fundamentalists like the Duggars believe that this is because others have been “contaminated by the culture,” which is supposed to be ominous but doesn’t really mean much)
This means that daughters are the “property” of their fathers until they’re married off (after following the infamous courtship rules), at which point they “belong” to their husbands.
(Which is why Jinger Duggar can wear shorts and short sleeves, baring the sinful woman-flesh or her limbs — because her husband says so)
It’s frightening, but it’s the reality for members of the Duggar clan — and for other families who share their beliefs.
But let’s not portray Jeremy Vuolo as a hero just because his wardrobe requirements for Jinger are more permissive than Jim Bob’s.
In a recent sermon, uploaded to YouTube, Jeremy Vuolo revealed his conflict with the Duggars … because he wishes that they would be more vocal in their condemnation of the LGBT+ community.
He’s recently used social media to condemn pastors and other religious leaders for considering performing same-sex weddings.
(Obviously, while legal recognition of marriage equality is vital, an individual pastor can choose to perform one or not perform one — just as many religious leaders officiated same-sex weddings before they were granted legal status, religious leaders can refuse to do so now. But, for many reasons, a lot of churches are happy to do so)
In his sermon, delivered at Grace Community Church Loredo, Jeremy also condemned these pastors:
“All you have to do is look at the sexual revolution pressuring them, and they cave in to a worldview that rejects God’s truth and embraces popular opinion.”
He said that he and Jinger consider homosexuality to be a “false love.”
Most noticeably, he went on to use a very strange analogy, comparing the existence of LGBT folks to a loaded gun and suggesting that sticking to his anti-LGBT beliefs makes him the only one willing to recognize it as a danger.
Finally, he suggests that rejecting gay people for who they are is a better way to love them than accepting them.
And he wasn’t shy about calling out the Duggars for not using every ounce of their platform to voice their anti-LGBT bigotry as loudly and proudly as they can.
This shouldn’t come to people as a surprise. Seriously.
People love the narrative of Jinger Duggar being the “rebellious, liberal” daughter and Jeremy Vuolo being the man who took her away from all of that, because the audience has been waiting and hoping to see one of these girls escape.
(With 19 kids and dozens upon dozens of anticipated grandchildren, it seems kind of inevitable that at least one of these poor kids will break away and write a tell-all book. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church’s Phelps family have done it.)
But we have to remember that these people grow up isolated from society and taught that “the culture” is evil and could doom their souls. That’s a lot for a girl to overcome, especially when she’s taught to not think for herself.
And Jeremy Vuolo might clash with Jim Bob over sleeve length, but calling him “liberal” is truly twisting the word from its modern usage.
We’re talking about a guy who accuses Catholicism of being demonic, which is well within the standard wheelhouse of Christian fundamentalists but still earned a lot of shock and anger from fans.
Our favorite response to that was probably one viewer who wrote:
“Referring to Catholicism as ‘pagan’ not only insults Catholics, but Pagans. Study both before making such off-base comments.”
Though, if we’re being honest, Jeremy Vuolo would probably consider insulting both groups to be all part of a day’s work.
But the fact that he’s calling out his in-laws for not being sufficiently vocal in their anti-LGBT views almost paints him as being worse.
(Honestly, we’d say that he fits right in with the Duggar tribe … it’s just that Jim Bob and Michelle also like being reality stars and probably want to avoid another boycott)
Honestly, Jeremy Vuolo’s religious views — which he says that Jinger shares (and that’s no surprise) — make us really glad that Jeremy and Jinger don’t seem to be rushing to have kids.
No one can control whether or not their children are gay or bi or trans, but they can reject who they are and torment them into suppressing their true identities, filling them with self-loathing that will change the course of their lives for the worse.
So “whatever” it is that Jinger and Jeremy are doing to delay adding to the Duggar brood sounds like it’s for the best. For so many reasons.
