Once again, a celebrity or politician has apologized for offending the left-wing puritans on social media. This time, Mario Lopez, a newly hired host of Access Hollywood, apologized for opining that 3-year-old children should not determine their gender. This statement was made in June on a podcast program with conservative commentator Candace Owens. Of course, the remark was both innocuous and sensible as children that young should not be making any major decisions, that is why they hopefully have two loving parents.
Unfortunately, in our society today, intelligent opinions are often treated as insensitive to certain communities. In this case, Lopez’s observations were vigorously denounced by transgender supporters. Not surprisingly, Lopez quickly retreated from his comments and apologized for being “ignorant and insensitive.”
There was nothing Lopez said that merited an apology. The apology was due from the online mob who savaged him on social media. In the interview, Lopez said that it was “dangerous” for parents to allow young children to transition to another gender.
This “transition” involves extensive life-altering surgery and hormone treatments that no young child should have to undergo. Of course, Lopez made a completely reasonable statement that should be supported by almost all devoted parents.
Good parents care deeply about protecting their children and not using them to make a political statement such as showing support for the transgender community. If an adult wants to transition to another gender, that is their prerogative, but not a young child.
In today’s “woke” society, any sort of statement expressing support for the nuclear family, traditional marriage, maintaining birth gender or heterosexuality is considered offensive. For example, since 2012, boycotts from supporters of the LGBTQ community have been launched against the popular restaurant chain Chick-fil-A. It was not because of any discrimination against their community, but due to the Chief Operating Officer’s expressed support of traditional marriage. In addition, the company’s charitable organization gave donations to organizations such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes that certain activists within the LGBTQ community consider to be discriminatory. Even though the fast food chain decided to “leave the debate over same-sex marriage” in 2012, their company is still being targeted with abusive treatment. Earlier this year, Rider University in New Jersey decided to withdraw from talks with Chick-fil-A about opening a restaurant on campus because of “the company’s record widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ+ community.”
The same-sex marriage controversy also has cost executives in ultra-progressive Silicon Valley their jobs. Their crime involved making donations to organizations supporting traditional marriage. In California, such political support is tantamount to engaging in a hate crime.
The debate over same-sex marriage from several years ago has morphed into a debate about transgender rights today. While there should be no discrimination against any adult who wants to change genders, there should also be no discrimination against anyone who has a viewpoint that this type of surgery is wrong, especially for a young child.
In today’s world of the Twitter mob, a strict censorship is being instituted against any kind of traditional viewpoint, especially in Hollywood, where the left-wing radicals reign supreme. Just a few years ago, a comment like the one made by Mario Lopez would have been greeted with universal approval and support. No one in their right mind would have considered criticizing his statement.
In just the last few years, the world has changed dramatically. The transgender agenda really gained momentum during the Obama administration, which made it a priority in the military and other areas. It all leads to a point today where Lopez may lose his position at Access Hollywood for making a completely reasonable and truthful comment.
The problem for Lopez is his show is owned by NBCUniversal. His bosses are “woke” left-wing executives who adhere to a progressive agenda at the network. Not surprisingly, these executives, like all the other ones in Hollywood, are very sensitive to any criticism from their base of liberal advertisers and viewers.
In the end, Lopez’s apology may not be enough to say his position on the show. To the left-wing mob, groveling before their altar means nothing. Therefore, Lopez should have never retracted one word from his mild initial comments. Not only was there nothing wrong with what he said, but he would have kept his dignity in case of a firing.
By quickly and gratuitously apologizing, Lopez insulted the millions of Americans who obviously agree with his comments about parenting. The moral of the story is that if you are going to be a victim of an online mob of Twitter trolls, at least do it with your pride and dignity intact.
Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America's Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com