Conservatives need to “be more homophobic” and “take it up a notch,” a right-wing pundit said Wednesday night on Newsmax, claiming “this is a war between good and evil” and people need to “stand tall.”
The call for heightened bigotry against the LGBTQ community came during a discussion in which Newsmax host Eric Bolling and his guests raged against Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, who has frequently been the target of right-wing attacks for being transgender and for her advocacy for gender-affirming care.
With conservative media centering much of its content on fear-mongering about “groomers,” as Republicans continue to push anti-trans legislation, the latest outrage lighting up the right-wing ecosphere revolves around Levine praising Identity Alaska, a gender clinic in Alaska. Soon after, Fox News and other conservative outlets noted that the clinic promotes gender-inclusive education guides that suggest replacing the word “mother” with “egg producer” or “birth parent.”
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During Wednesday night’s broadcast of The Balance, Bolling hosted Common Sense executive editor Chris Bedford and Shemeka Michelle, a podcaster and Christian rapper who recently had a viral hit with the anti-LGBTQ song “Reclaim the Rainbow.” You can already tell where this is going.
After Bolling branded it “unbelievable” that Levine is a health secretary and we “can’t say ‘mother’ anymore,” Michelle took it several steps further.
“You know, I guess if we’re identifying as ‘egg producers,’ I should just identify as a chicken from now on,” she groused. “This is silly to me. And so, what we have done is we have put in place people that 20 years ago would have been locked in an insane asylum. We’ve put them in prominent positions to completely confuse our children.”
Bedford, for his part, repeatedly misgendered Levine before declaring the “end goal” is to indoctrinate children and weaken the military.
“It’s predatory, and it's not just a live-and-let-live thing anymore,” he declared. “Right now, it’s really a thing that says if you don’t accept this predatory mental illness, then you’re a bigot. And it is actually coming for your kids.”
Noting that his program is “talking about it ad nauseam,” Bolling then grumbled that conservatives are often labeled “bigoted and homophobic” by the left because of this exact sort of coverage.
Michelle, however, declared that conservatives should lean into it even harder.
“I actually think, if that’s the case, we need to be more homophobic,” she exclaimed. “We need to take it up a notch because these people have continued to do this because we failed to shame them.”
Michelle concluded: “We failed to put our feet down and stand tall and say what we believe without the fear of being canceled. Now is not the time to worry about having friends. It is about linking up with people who have the same values as you and realizing this is a war between good and evil. And If we don’t stand tall, we’re going to lose.”
Bolling did not react to that call to action, instead turning it over to Bedford to finish up the segment. The Newsmax star’s silence is perhaps similar to his lack of response when conspiracy-addled journalist Lara Logan went full QAnon on his air, invoking antisemitic blood-libel smears. The network later condemned Logan’s comments and banned her from its airwaves.
Michelle, a regular presence on Newsmax, gained fame earlier this year when she collaborated on a song criticizing the Los Angeles Dodgers for honoring drag group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence during its Pride Night, which sparked backlash among Catholics and conservatives.
“Love is love, nasty / taste the rainbow / no thanks, I’d rather die,” Michelle sings on the song at one point. “What’s ‘gay love’ got to do with me? / I got a rainbow on my neck and I can’t breathe.”
Interestingly, another artist on “Reclaim the Rainbow” claimed that, despite the song’s lyrics and message, he was not homophobic.
“If you know me, I love everybody. I’ve never treated anybody different. I have friends that have all different types of views, and I give them the biggest hugs like they’re my close friends,” Jimmy Levy said last month. “We never let our disagreements affect us. However, I don’t ignore the truth. And love also means the truth.”
He added: “We are not scared of anybody. We love everybody. They just want to put a label in order to defame the song, defame our character… it’s wrong.”
