According to her official bio published by the state of California, Jennifer Newsom, wife of Governor Gavin Newsom, is the “First Partner” of the state. To leave no confusion as to why she’s not listed as the “First Lady,” the posting explains the distinction is designed: “To send a signal of inclusivity, recognizing that one day there will be a woman or LGBTQ+ Governor of California, and to elevate the importance of partnership and the need for, and benefits of, a caring, inclusive government.”
A 2022 interview with Mrs. Newsom has recently resurfaced on social media that only amplifies this worldview – and also adds context to the many challenges Christian believers are facing in today’s culture.
Speaking with Elex Michaelson, who was with Fox in 2022 but is now with CNN, the wife of the California governor was making an impassioned plea for why we can learn a whole lot from same-sex couples.
“Someone’s got to do the care work in a same-sex male couple,” she explained.“Someone’s got to do that, so I’m just going to do it. And … not be afraid or ashamed because it’s part of being human.”
She continued: “We’re all on a spectrum, right? It’s just how society kind of pushes us and pressures us into these limiting gender roles. But again, the folks on the far right, [what] they’re missing is just this, they’re living in this silo, this evangelical conservative silo that ultimately is pulling us back as a country to a time and a place where we don’t deserve to be. And we’re not going to be, because honestly, young women and fathers of daughters are awake now and they’re woke, and they’re not going to let us go back.”
Mrs. Newsom said this resistance to traditional Christian beliefs filled her with “so much hope” and that when it comes to objections to these multi-millennia-old norms, “California has a huge responsibility to lead.”
There’s no question the Golden State has been on the leading edge when it comes to pushing “woke” policies that are hostile to conservative evangelical convictions.
From forcing pro-life clinics to advertise abortion and insurers to cover it, mandating schools include curriculum that not only affirms but elevates LGBT propaganda, banning counseling services for minors struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction, banning the alleged misuse of pronouns, and requiring faith-based adoption agencies to place children in homes led by same-sex couples, California has been a training ground for radical policies for a very long time.
But what is this “evangelical conservative silo” that Mrs. Newsom claims is dragging California and the world back to the dark ages?
Clearly, she’s taking issue with Christian believers who are advocating and championing biblical truths: that God made two genders, marriage is between one man and one woman, and it’s best when children are raised in the safety and security of their biological or adoptive mother and father.
Those who claim conservative evangelical convictions are somehow backwards or culturally dangerous appear ignorant of the instrumental, foundational influence those beliefs have had on society – including in California.
It was Spanish Christian missionaries who helped settle the state. In fact, the 21 original missions still exist. From San Francisco Solano in the north to San Diego in the south, the goal was to introduce the Native Americans already there and newly arriving people to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. But the goal wasn’t only spiritual. From the conversions sprang a commercial revolution as the newly created colonial outposts helped establish trade and provisions for the growing population.
Over the years, this same Christian missionary zeal has led nationwide to the formation of hospitals and medical schools, nursing homes, adoption and child welfare agencies, the defense of human rights, and countless inventions and businesses that have changed the world.
This so-called “silo” is anything but exclusionary but is, instead, radically and dramatically inclusionary, and not a “silo” at all. When was the last time a Christian hospital refused to treat a non-Christian? Have you ever heard about a Christian charity declining to help someone based on their ideological beliefs?
If Mrs. Newsom is so committed to “inclusivity,” why is she so eager to exclude evangelical conservatives from the conversation?
Daily Citizen is a news division of Focus on the Family that provides a faith-based perspective to counter the mainstream media’s anti-Christian bias.
