By Kathryn Kelman/editor-in-chief
On April 3, an article titled “Roseanne is bringing conservative American women out of the closet” was published by The Hill and received a lot of backlash for a slew of good reasons.
Not only is the article problematic for its use of the term “out of the closet,” the perpetuation of the myth that conservatives are marginalized and the praise of Roseanne Barr is also terrible and grossly inaccurate.
First and foremost, let’s respect the dignity of “The Closet” and not use language associated with a marginalized community to describe people that have actively worked to take away the rights of that marginalized community.
As for the myth of the marginalized conservative, let’s dispel that too.
Not only do conservatives currently control both houses of Congress and the White House, they also have a slight majority on the Supreme Court and have single-party control in a number of state legislatures, including in Texas.
Conservatives also have immense media influence and have had it since former President Ronald Reagan struck down the Fairness Doctrine in the ‘80s.
No marginalized community has that kind of power or control. They wouldn’t be marginalized if they did. Conservative women are marginalized by their womanhood, as are all women. But their political views do not marginalize them in today’s world.
Being a conservative doesn’t systemically disadvantage a person in any way, whereas actual marginalized people are killed for their differences or have to battle discrimination and systemic oppression daily.
Lastly, conservative women crediting Barr with their “liberation,” is possibly the worst part because she’s a terrible role model. It’s dangerous to give that much power to the woman that dressed up as Hitler holding oven burnt gingerbread men, frequently spews racist and homophobic rhetoric and promotes conspiracies that already have been proven false.
It’s rhetoric like Barr’s that leads to things like KKK members feeling comfortable enough to walk around without their hoods on and the rise in hate crimes around the country.
Yes, we should respect people with different views, but when those views threaten our democracy and the lives and livelihoods of others, like Barr’s do, we should speak out against them.
