On the Duck Dynasty issue: The comments which are most glaring from #PhilRobertson’s interview are these:

“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he tells reporter Drew Magary. “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.” Only to then equivocate: “However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”

After bullshitting the interviewer and the readers on sexuality with his ill-informed beliefs, his respect isn’t worth anything until he actually attempts to expose himself to real gay/lesbian people and families, including the married, the poor, the rural, the artistic, the shunned. The onus is on him to mop up his assumptions. He can be invited to an LGBT town hall, or to an LGBT community center like LGBT Community Center of New Orleans, or to an LGBT-affirmative religious center like Metropolitan Community Church of New Orleans. He can actually *talk* to real live openly-LGBT people explain themselves, their lives and their loves! Shocking, ain’t it?

But that’s just leading the horse to the water. It’s up to him whether he wants to *understand* those who he just compared to animal abusers and terrorists, and not just “respect” them. He owes that, first and foremost, to his own employment at A&E, and owes it ephemerally to his show’s viewers. He can at least use that A&E money to seek to understand LGBT people. Respect does not happen without understanding.