Letters made from vehicle license plates arranged on a map to form the phrase "WHAT A WORLD.

An open letter to Karen Pence

By Nancy Ford

Dear Karen,

Hey girl, hey. I’ve been meaning to write to you for some time, ever since you officially became the “Second Lady†of these United States. That can’t be an easy job. For one, how pleasant can it be to have to endure the constant comparison to First Lady Melania Trump? You’re a perfectly fine looking woman, no doubt of superior intellect. Not a speck of porn in your history, unless you count repeatedly watching Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. But that’s Christian snuff porn — a completely different category.

There are other ways you differ from Melania Trump, too. Her chosen credo is “Be best.†While that’s spartanly aspirational, it’s mighty vague. Given your well-advertised aberration to the Christian faith, it’s likely that your motto might be something a bit more specific. Like, “Be best. Just not gay.â€

Which leads us to why I’m writing this letter. In recent weeks, as politicians begin scurrying for their place and to make a name for themselves in the upcoming presidential primaries, your fellow Hoosier, Pete Buttigieg has been in the news. A lot. While at this writing he has not officially thrown his hat into the ring, Mayor Pete, as fans and the press affectionately call him, is enjoying a quick, early embrace from the press. And for good reason.

As you know, he’s been mayor of your state’s South Bend since 2012 where he enjoys immense popularity. He’s young (37ish), extremely well spoken, has nary a spot of scandal in his past (that we know of, so far), and is very well liked among his constituents. Valedictorian of his high school class. He received a first prize for the JFK Profiles in Courage Essay Contest from the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston shortly after he graduated high school. He went on to college at Harvard University. Became a Rhoades scholar. Joined the U.S. Navy, serving in Afghanistan. He’s a decorated, respected veteran. Stable.

He’s the kind of guy that that any reasonable parent could point to and hope their child would emulate. Basically, Mayor Pete is everything your husband’s boss is not.

He’s a devout Christian. And he’s married. To another man, as you are well aware. Those two facts conflict in your interpretation of Christianity apparently, and are the root of the problem you seem to have with Mr. Buttigieg.

Recently, Mayor Pete was the keynote speaker at the 2019 Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch, held recently in Washington D.C. The LGBTQ Victory Fund describes itself as an organization that “works to change the face and voice of America’s politics and achieve equality for LGBTQ Americans by increasing the number of openly LGBTQ officials at all levels of government.â€

In 2015, the Victory Fund helped re-elect Mayor Pete as South Bend’s mayor. Coincidentally, that was the same year your husband, then the governor of Indiana, signed into law a “religious freedom†bill enabling businesses and individuals to refuse service to people for being LGBT.

In his brunch speech, Mayor Pete talked about the difficulty he had in accepting his own gayness, especially in light of his fervent Christian convictions. Eventually he was able to “see the lightâ€, as it were, of his own holiness and worth as a gay Christian.

“If me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade. I wish the Mike Pences of the world could understand, that if you have a problem with who I am, then your problem is not with me, your quarrel is with my Creator,†Buttigieg said in his address.

Well. Judging from the way you and your husband reacted to Mayor Pete’s very tempered, measured and, well, Christian statement, one would have thought he was reflecting on how ripped Christ looked as he hung tortuously on the cross (another Mel Gibson reference, btw).

To absolutely no one’s surprised, both you and your husband responded by playing the “abused Christian†card.

“He said some things that are critical of my Christian faith and about me personally, and he knows better,†Pence sniveled to CNBC. “He knows me.â€

You piled on with, “In our country, we need to understand, you shouldn’t be attacked for what your religious beliefs are.â€

But it’s OK to forbid LGBTQ families from seeking an education at the school where you teach, right, Karen?

And it’s OK for your husband to “oppose any measure that would advance LGBTQ rights, voting for a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality, advocating conversion therapy as a means to fight HIV, and being a key supporter of the transgender military ban,†as LGBTQNation.com reports, right, Karen? C’mon, Karen. You and I and Jesus all know very well this isn’t the way Christians are supposed to act. Be better.

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