I’m watching the man I love suffer a meltdown on live TV.
“That is alotof damn privilege, for starters, to wantonly wastemytax dollars just because you feel your religious beliefsneed to be rammed down my throat.Do you understand how many hundreds of thousands of dollars it can cost to take a case to the Supreme Court? Do you understand how many literal life-threatening cases are out there that should be heard by federal appellate courts or SCOTUS but are delayed months or years because the system is choked by religious prudes who hate gays, or who think they can rulewhat a woman does with her body?
“Howdareyou. No,seriously, how dare you? I’m tired of people screaming this country is a Christian country when it’s not. And yes, I consider myself a Christian. Our founding fathersspecificallyset out to prevent people from imposing their particular religious flavor on others, and violation of personal liberties is the antithesis of what my party used tostand for.
“I watch politicians and other leaders from my party cluck their tongues at liberals. Meanwhile, they’re taking illegal campaign donations from foreign nationals, failing to register as foreign agents when they take money from other countries, and engaging in voter suppression, while also claiming they hold a moral superiority.
“Well, I have a hot news flash for you—you don’t getto cherry-pick who you represent when you’re elected to office in the United States. You don’t get to represent large corporations and special-interest groups and foreign oligarchs and also get to tell voters they can’t legally vote because you don’t like their skin color or political affiliation.
“Are the Democrats perfect? No, they’re not. They think throwing money and new governmental agenciesat an issue can fix everything, when it can’t. But at least they’re trying. They’re not deliberately attempting to strip rights from citizens who morally, legally, and ethically should have them. They don’t care if someone is gay or straight, cis or trans. Meanwhile, the Republicans arestillworried about who might occupy the bathroom stall next to them.Why? Is it because certain Republicansare used to molesting people in bathrooms, so they think everyone else will do it, too?
“Here’s a novel idea—maybe my fellow conservatives should return to their roots. By that, I mean maybe conservatives should be more worried about balancing our budget by making rich corporations pay their fair share, instead of giving them tax breaks that hurt the middle and lower classes. Maybe our partyshould stop forcing the middle and lower class to pay a higher tax rate, all while trying to take away their health care, Social Security, and Medicare.
“Maybe, instead of letting tech companies run roughshod over our communities, we should ask them to pay back the grants and tax breaks they had thrown at them when cities whored themselves out to attract them, which placed the burden of infrastructureon local communities and residents, while those same companies pay little to nothing in taxes.”
My heart pounds, and I wish I could reach through the screen and stop him. This is career suicide, and…I’m utterly helpless and heartbroken for my boy.
But I’m also feeling pretty damned proud of him, too.
“Maybe it’s time our party steps forward, and instead of claiming they hold the moral high-road,they actuallyproveit by enacting term limits and eliminating dark money from campaigns. Maybe it’s time our party steps forward, shakes off the vocal far right racist and religious minority that’s gained an ever-tightening stranglehold on the GOP for the past couple of decades, and saysenough.”
Kevin takes a deep breath. From the lack of a chyron or news ticker crawling on the screen, I suspectthe control booth is in shock and he’s taken them totally by surprise with this rant.
“I’m tired of having to defend being a conservative. I’m tired of having to append, ‘but I’m not a racist or a bigot,’ to that. Which, I have to be honest, most people who aren’t racists and bigots don’t have to explain that they aren’t. Unless, of course, they’re a Republican.
“Unfortunately, racists and whitenationalists and other bigots have usurped our party. It’s no longer an annoying and disconcerting bug—it’s afeature. While it enrages me that I have to keep making that qualification, Igetit. I understand why people feel that way about my political party. And I shouldn’t have to. I lay blame for that squarely on Republican party leaders who’ve courted the money those disgusting vocal minoritieshand over, and for failing to denounce them. Or is it that, maybe, our Republican leaders reallyarebarely closeted bigots and racists? Sure seems like they are.
“I’m sick of going into network offices every couple of months and explaining that no, I willnotair a story that paints the LGBTQ community as morally deficient, especially because they aren’t, and doubly especially when in my B-blockI’d be airing a story about a GOP senator who was anti-LGBTQ and who just got arrested for child trafficking.”
I jump when he smacks his hand on the desk.
“You can sit there and whine all you want about people who aren’t white, cishet Christians, but you know what that doesn’t make you? A Christian. Get out of people’s bedrooms. Get out of people’s bodies and doctors’ offices. Get out of people’sreligious beliefs, or lack thereof. You havenoright to be judging people when our party has overwhelmingly been consumed by corruption and greed and hatred, and is doing anything but representing ‘true’ core Christian values.
“It doesn’t give me any pleasure to say this, either. Before you ‘whatabout’ me regarding Democrats, yes, they have their issues, too. As misguided as their approach is,however, their end goal is tohelppeople. I can no longer argue against people who point to the GOP as a nest of corruption, greed, and stripping people of their rights. They’re correct! There isnothingdefensible that this party has produced on its own in the last couple of decades.
“Am I switching parties? No. But understand something—I’ve spent my career here presenting you withfacts. WhenI present facts that show my party screwed up, I get people calling me a cuck, or trying to say I’m a liberal. You don’t get to cherry-pick facts, no matter how people want to think they can. Factsare. Maybe some of my fellow journalists on this network want you to believe their opinions are facts, but comeon. Howstupidare you? Really?”
I blink, glad I record this show on my DVR every day,because I know I will want to watch this one again.
Many times.
I’ve never been so fucking turned on in my life. If I thought I’d be able to reach him, I’d head out to their studios right now and be waiting for him when he emerges, pull him into my arms, and kiss him.
My boy’s on a roll, though, and isn’t done yet.
“Why do you care if two women want to get married or buy a wedding cake? Doesit hurt you? No! Why do you care if an eighteen-year-old woman on the other side of the country wants to get an abortion because her boyfriend pressured her into sex she really didn’t want to have, and she got pregnant, and she can’t take care of it? Especially when she later needs financial support and services to help her take care of it if she has it, but you’ll be the first to tell her toobad, she shouldn’t have had sex in the first place!”
Kevin rubs his forehead, and a renewed wave of worry sweeps through me. I wonder if there’s something else going on. Something…deeper he hasn’t talked about publicly. I remember his mom died of cancer after battling it for years.
Please don’t let him have a brain tumor or something.
But he’s still not finished with his from-the-heart rant.It’s almost as if, for the first time in his career, he can be completely honest.
“If our lawmakers won’t even keep their dicks in their pants, why is there some greater moral burden on people in lower income classes to not have sex? You know what? Maybe for some people that’s the cheapest entertainment they have in their lives. It doesn’t matter why, though. They have as much right to have sexas some rich guy living in a penthouse in New York City. They shouldn’t be penalized for doing something that’s totally natural for humans to do.
“Quit lying to yourselves. The Republican party isn’t ‘pro-life.’ They’re ‘pro-birth.’ Once a baby’s born, you show no damned interest in making sure it has a safe, healthy upbringing, and you’re lying to yourself if you think you do.
“No one’s usingabortion as birth control, despite what loonies will tell you—and I honestly can’t believe that, in this day and age, that’s still a belief some people have. It ranks right up there with flat-Earthers and fake moon landing crazies. If people can’t afford condoms, theydamnsure can’t afford an abortion. And no, your tax dollars donotpay for abortions, no matter what the liars say. It’s law thatyour tax dollars aren’t allowed to pay for them. Try using that phone in your hand for something besides Facebook and Snapchat. Read. Educate yourself.
