The video itself was humorous. A pair of what appears to be either Jehovah's Witnesses or Latter Day Saints, traveling in their customary pair, approach the front door of an apartment. In the now-viral video clip shared originally on TikTok, the first man approaches and glances down to the ground, appearing to read the message on the entry mat. According to the caption of the video, the mat said, "gayest place in town." The two would-be evangelists then exchange a look, speak briefly, and leave before knocking.
The video was a comedy gold mine for anyone and everyone who has ever brainstormed the most effective way to turn away unwanted proselytizing when you're just trying to fix supper:
Like most people, I laughed at the scene and then began scrolling the comment section to enjoy all the jokes and witty remarks from the peanut gallery. But the more I dug and followed comment threads, the more alarmed I became at what I noticed was unfolding.
- Comments and links from pro-gay activists pointing people towards an entire gay-porn sub-genre that involve actors playing LDS missionaries
- Profane insults that the two men in the video were flagrantly homophobic
- Blanket condemnations and generalized attacks on anyone belonging to the LDS church as being complicit in pedophilia
- Relentless accusations that the men involved, and the faith behind it, hate gay people and should be "shut down" or "stripped of its tax-exempt status"
- A series of exchanges that taunted by virtue of their dress and neat appearance, the two missionaries were closeted homosexuals who should have just "gone for it"
I never cease to be amazed at how the very voices who fervently claim to oppose stereotyping of individuals so frequently slip into that practice when it comes to generalizing the look and characteristics of gay people. If you're truly an "ally," why would you ever be inclined to cheapen gay identity down to certain fastidious tendencies and use it as an insulting label to taunt people who aren't?
But beyond that, why does all this matter? Why did it stand out to me?
Honestly, it just reinforced the cultural hypocrisy that those embracing the spirit of the age willfully ignore. This isn't a case of normal people collectively joking about a bigoted cult. It's about a cult of its own expressing bigotry toward people they believe are culturally inferior.
After some outfit called Podcast Movement hilariously responded to one of their conference attendees complaints about being "harmed" by the sight of conservative Ben Shapiro last week, a flood of social media users pointed out the inconsistency. Who was acting in a fascist manner? Who was expressing intolerance towards someone with disparate religious and ideological views? Who was unwilling to even be in the presence of someone with whom they disagree?
This reality is furthered by the recent revelation that while Republican college kids don't feel similarly, nearly 70% of Democrat university students would be unwilling to room with someone they disagreed with politically.
Why do the same people screaming so incessantly about bigotry get to behave in such bigoted ways without aggressive pushback?
I have plenty of theological disagreements with the Mormon Church, and with Jehovah's Witnesses. But those two gentlemen politely declined to talk with someone they perceived (right or wrong) to be impervious to their outreach. Judging by the vitriolic attacks directed at them online, who can honestly wonder why they would believe that way?
But I'm curious – had the missionaries knocked and attempted to convert the gay individual(s) who lived there, or confronted them about their lifestyle, that would have been deemed homophobic. Instead, they politely left without disturbing the gay homeowner(s) and that is being deemed homophobic. All this offers evidence that outside of full endorsement, a person cannot escape the pejorative label.
For generations, the mantra of sexual revolutionaries has been to live and let live, to respect people's lifestyle choices, that "love" wins over "hate," and that being kind is their one guiding principle. How long does a political movement that demands they be "accepted," get to shame and deny acceptance to those who live differently than them?
