As if ABC’s Station 19 didn’t shove their liberal opinions down our throats enough by championing kids attending over-sexualized gay pride parades and portraying anyone who doesn’t toe the LGBTQ line as hateful bigots, the show decided to revisit last month’s storyline in their latest episode, “Give It All.”
Apparently, Shonda Rhimes hadn’t given it her all in the previous episode, “True Colors,” and she had some more liberal preaching to do. If you remember, in the previous episode, a crowd of angry, white, conservative men (of course) were protesting at a pride parade in which Station 19 was participating, including bi-sexual character Maya Bishop (Danielle Savre) who saw her brother among the men.
Now, four episodes later, Maya’s brother is back to again teach viewers, “Conservatives bad! White men bad! Liberals good!” I mean, they could at least try to come up with a unique storyline instead of ripping off tired old tropes from other shows.
Maya shows up at the home her brother Mason (Cameron Cowperthwaite) is sharing with his fellow protesters whom he considers family, and she’s already moody and agitated from hormones she’s taking for IVF treatment:
Mason: What do you want, Maya?
Maya: I don't know. After seeing you at Pride, I just wanted to talk. I mean, what the hell, Mason?
Mason: Is that a question?
Maya: Do you believe this crap? Is this who you are now?
Mason: "Now" is a weird qualifier.
Maya: I've known you my entire life, Mason. You're just confused or…
Mason: You don't think I can form my own opinions? I can't think for myself?
Maya: You're not a person who… Okay, you're not full of hate. We grew up together. I know you.
Mason: You don't know me. You know yourself. That's all you've ever cared about.
Maya: Is that one of yours?
Mason: Yeah.
Maya: Fine. Tell me who you are then. I want to understand.
Mason: I'm not doing this.
Maya: No, I'm not leaving until we talk. So we nee…
Mason: Come on, Maya, enough. Just leave me alone. Damn it.
Maya: I'm sorry. Let me...
Mason: Just please leave!
Maya: No, I can help, okay? Let me help.
Poor Maya is trying so hard to save her brother from his conservative self. What’s a liberal girl to do? #EyeRoll As their argument continues, Mason becomes every Hollywood production’s caricature of how they see conservatives - angry, cruel and hateful:
Mason: At least I can contribute.
Maya: To what? This boys' home for deplorables?
Mason: We uphold the traditions of our country and the people who built it.
Maya: What does that even mean?
Mason: A man used to be able to raise a family on one salary. We're losing out on jobs because of identity politics, immigration.
Maya: Mason, you are brainwashed.
Mason: This is the stupidity… This is the stupidity my brothers warned me about. Men like us are despised.
Maya: What are you talking about? How are you despised? You were the group shouting at innocent people at… Look, I'm just confused, okay? The Mason I knew was a kid who made up stories with me. You remember that? He was the kid who insisted on having a funeral for the dead mouse in the garage. He is extremely talented.
Mason: Talented? Why didn't you ever tell that to Dad when he was burning my art? Where were you when I wanted to go to art school? All the money went to your Olympic training. These people are my brothers. Okay? They helped me get clean. They hung my art on the walls. I matter to these people. No one ever told me that I mattered before.
Maya: You matter to me, Mason. Just let me get you out of this place and see how it feels.
Mason: And go where?
Maya: Move in with me.
Mason: You want me to come and live with you?
Maya: You don't know what real family feels like. Let me show you.
Deplorables? Okay, Hillary. And Maya doesn’t think straight, white men are despised in our culture? Hollywood really does exist in a bubble.
Maya is a great example of so many on the left who mistakenly believe conservatives and Christians must give up their deeply held beliefs (which Maya refers to as brainwashing) to love them. Do the writers not realize she’s being just as sanctimonious and holier-than-thou as Mason is? She just cloaks her bigotry in “love” and a savior complex:
Maya finally admits to Mason she’s bisexual which takes him by complete surprise:
Maya: You could go to school and study art and get a job.
Mason: You want me to pay rent?
Maya: I mean, no. You could, but I don't need you to pay rent.
Mason: You really want me to come and live with you?
Maya: I just… I want to show you that there's another way.
Mason: I didn't need your saving when I was on the streets, and I don't need it now.
Maya: These people don't care about you.
Mason: These people are my family.
Maya: Who harass innocent people at a parade. Was that your family?
Mason: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Why are you so obsessed with that? Why do you care so much about a stupid gay parade?
Maya: Because they're my people, Mason. You're harassing me and my community.
Her revelation just brings out more of Mason’s hatred:
Mason: You're telling me you're... gay?
Maya: Yes. I'm bisexual.
Mason: Oh, so you're confused. And you have daddy issues.
Maya: I have a wife. We're trying to adopt a son. I am building a family.
Mason: You have a wife and a kid? And you want me to move in with you? Call your wife. Tell her. God knows that fatherless kid is gonna need a male role model, especially when the little weirdo tells all the other kids at school about his two mommies. No, go on. Call her. Tell her Uncle Mason's coming. I'll pack my bags. Right.
Maya: I want you to be a part of my life, Mason, but I can't do that if you don't…
Mason: So, you want me to accept you and your "choices," but you don't have to accept me and mine?
Maya: I can agree to disagree about everything except my humanity, Mason. I'm just trying to exist, and your "brothers" hate me for it.
Mason: Because you are poisoning this country. And you shouldn't be allowed to do that. You shouldn't be allowed to have kids.
Maya: Oh, my God. You're Dad. You've become Dad.
Mason: Don't pull that crap with me.
Maya: No, actually... You're not him. You're worse. I came here trying to save you or something. But now I get it. That's not possible. You can never be a part of my life, Mason. Not like this. You're not allowed to touch the beautiful life that I've created, because you would ruin it. I have love that we never knew existed as kids, and I wanted you to have that, too, but...You don't want it. And I won't risk losing it, so...
As a conservative Christian with a transgender family member, I have lived this experience. My family member is one of the most kind, loving people you could ever hope to know. My husband and I have gay family members, as well.
What’s beautiful is they love us and allow us to be ourselves without shaming us for our faith. They know we don’t think any less of them or judge them, and they don’t think any less of us or judge us. We just…love each other.
Unfortunately, I have lost close friends who are gay once they’ve learned about my Christian, conservative beliefs, and it’s honestly broken my heart. I was willing to love them just as they are, but they couldn’t do the same for me.
Because just as Maya says she can agree to disagree on everything but her humanity, the same can be said for conservatives and Christians who are hated and criticized for who we are.
Sadly, Maya cuts Mason out of her life and the two never find any common ground to cling to. There’s only judgement and hate on both sides:
Beckett: May I help you? I used to help my ex-wife with hers.
Maya: I found my brother. He's so hateful. Like, I thought a little piece of him was still left, but he's gone. Oh, my God. I cut him off. How could I do that?
Beckett: Maya...
Maya: I'm a horrible person.
Beckett: Maya, you did what you needed to do.
Maya: Why does it feel like somebody died or something?
Beckett: That's actually apparently a real thing. Hughes said it's called "ambiguous loss." Can I?
Maya: Yeah.
Beckett: It hurts like hell. But you had to make a choice. It was either him or you.
Maya: Yeah. Yeah.
Beckett: It's okay. It's okay. You ready? Alright. And, Bishop...
Maya: Yeah?
Beckett: For what it's worth you're already a great mother.
Maybe if Hollywood would ever allow conservatives and Christians onto their writing teams to consult the way they do pro-abortion and leftist activists, they could come up with a decent storyline in which two family members actually express their love and devotion to each other unconditionally, no matter their differences. And neither must conform to the others’ beliefs in order to be “rescued.”
Yeah, I’m not holding my breath, either.
