A former anti-gay activist and analyst with the Family Research Council, an extreme Christian organization once associated with Josh Duggar, has blasted Duggar in a Friday op-ed for TheNewCivilRightsMovement.com.
Yvette Schneider, who is herself as bi-sexual, has renounced the anti-LGBT movement after "converting" and working against her own interests for about a decade before having a change of heart. In a post explaining why it's so common for leaders in the morally conservative Christian right to fail to live up to the standards they demand of others, she explains Duggar's fall.
"Josh, without a college education, or any known skills that are marketable in the real world outside of conservative politics â he was literally a used car salesman â was offered a leadership position at Family Research Council," Schneider writes. "Like most non-profits, FRC is always looking for ways to raise money. To hire a young man in his mid-twenties with no education does not make sense for a high-profile organization that deals with matters of morality. That is, unless the young man is a reality TV star with a huge following of fans willing to send your organization money."
Duggar resigned from his position as FRC vice president after it came to light in May that he had molested underage girls -- four of five of whom were his own sisters -- and the family had kept it secret.
Since then, it's been revealed that he cheated on his wife -- while she was pregnant -- with a porn star and had two paid accounts with the adultery website, Ashley Madison.
But Duggar is far from the first and will not be the last.
Scheider pointed to George Rekers, one of the founders of FRC, who was caught with a male escort.
"I personally know of several 'ex-gay' spokespeople who declared their freedom from same-sex attractions while secretly liaising with gay lovers. All while fighting against gay rights and telling gay Christians they could change, too," Schneider writes.
The toxic brew of having to show an outward appearance of faith and strength with contradicting, human needs that you preach are "evil" often leads to people acting out.
Schneider talks about young men at a church she once attended punishing themselves by snapping rubber bands around their wrists when they looked at women.
"Josh, like the rest of us, was likely taught to hide whatever 'evil stirrings' he had," Schneider explains. "To do things in secret was how he learned to handle his urges. Feelings of shame and inadequacy arise in response to sexual sublimation and being told constantly that sexual feelings are dirty and of the devil. At the same time, to feel inferior isnât manly. To show weakness isn't a 'good witness' for the Lord. The mixture of inadequacy and the pressure to appear superior is a potent concoction that often leads to acting out."
