happy birthday to this little knucklehead of a sister. she's the epitome of a brown.I love you babes. fin noggin dude pic.twitter.com/RPEUNp2JUQ
— mariah (@mariahlian) April 13, 2015
Full disclosure, I have never seen an episode of Sister Wives. I vaguely know who they are through the coverage here on CB but my knowledge is periphery at best. I say this as an apology for any incorrect assumptions on my part. Anyway, Sister Wives is about one father and four sister wives with 18 children between them, some born as recently as last year. It goes without saying that there is constantly some form of drama on this show. Last season, Meri, original Sister Wife, was caught up in a catfish scheme in which she thought she as having an online relationship with a man but it turned out to be another woman. It was expected that last Sunday’s episode would deal with the the fallout from this and the fact that Meri’s only daughter, Mariah, had warned her she was being catfished. Teasers also suggested that Mariah was going to make an announcement as well and although there was much speculation as to what that announcement was, it seems that no one actually expected what it turned out to be. During the last moments aired of the show, Mariah told all 22 members of her family that she is gay.
Kody and Meri Brown’s daughter Mariah told her parents that she’s gay during the Sunday, January 1, episode of TLC’s Sister Wives.
The 21-year-old gathered all five of her parents, including sister wives Janelle, Christine and Robyn, to tell them she identifies as a lesbian. “I’m gay,” Mariah, who is one of 18 children in the polygamist family, told the group.
In a preview for next Sunday’s episode, the family reacts to the news. In the clip, Meri tells Kody, “You were like smiling and happy and saying you were so happy for her. And I’m just … I don’t …” Kody replies, “We’re not happy Mariah’s gay; we’re happy Mariah knows herself.”
So these folks practice a version of Mormon Fundamentalism (although not FDLS), which condemns homosexuality. The Browns have spoken in favor of gay marriage as they support a person’s right to live in the partnership they chose. However, they have never directly come out in support of homosexuality so the big question now is: will they support Mariah? The snippets from Sunday’s episode showed wife Robyn asking, “are you serious?” followed by wife Christine asking, “are you really?” Meri, Mariah’s mother, was simply shown crying. According to People, the family is standing by Mariah. As this is the case, I really like Kody’s comment above saying that what is important is that Mariah is living authentically and open, which is a marvelous way to embrace it. Mariah spent New Year’s Eve with her brother Logan and his girlfriend Michelle so it looks like she has the support of her whole family, including her mother Meri who posted this pic to Instagram:
I don’t know the first thing about Mariah but I’m glad she will be able to live her life honestly. And I am not alone, Mariah was overwhelmed with support after the episode and thanked everyone via Twitter:
wow okay y'all making me cry with your support. thank you thank you thank you thank you😌😌🏳️🌈
— mariah (@mariahlian) January 2, 2017
happy graduation, garry! love you buddy pic.twitter.com/zQbTolGIjc
— mariah (@mariahlian) June 9, 2016
Photo credit: WENN Photos, Instagram and Twitter
Where do they find these people
America
Well good for her and them for being so supportive.
The irony of polygamists looking down on her for being lesbian would have been a bit much.
Yeah really! I don’t watch it. Its awesome for her to come out. Her dad not being happy sucks. But dad you get to #@$% a bunch of chicks why can’t I?!? Lol.
There are a lot of reasons for a dad to feel unhappy when hearing his daughter is lesbian for the first time. It’s a harder road even today, for one thing. It’s also a major mental shift for the parents who visualized one kind of a future for her and have to get used to a different picture. But they seem better equipped than most to make the adjustment, so time will tell. First feelings can change as they get used to the idea.
I love this show! I stopped watching around season 6 b/c I cannot stand Kody but I love the wives. Anyway, I always got the lesbian vibe from Mariah’s mom Meri. I can’t put my finger on it but I always felt like she had an attraction to women. I gasped when I read about Mariah coming out yesterday. I think that a couple of her moms will be okay with it but the others will likely be upset. How they can have such an nontraditional lifestyle and still judge Mariah is beyond me. It’s ironic b/c Mariah always seemed like the most innocent and conservative of all the kids.
I think her mom must be sad thinking she will never have kids in a regular mom and dad family. Which is what you always want for your kids deep down
What?? Personally, I just want my daughter to live a happy life. She happens to be straight, but if she chooses to be childless, or goes into a relationship with another woman, I couldn’t care less.
You are not the only one who thinks Meri may be a lesbian. I have read elsewhere lots of people get that vibe.
Mariah being a lesbian is the least of these people’s problems, any mate she chooses will more than likely be a better mate than Kody. Kody needs to ride off in the broken home sunset with Robin.
Live the life you want, Mariah. I hope she finds / has a lovely girlfriend and is happy.
I think in one episode, Mariah spoke of “not being able to wait until she had sister wives… because… of the connection…” I’m paraphrasing, but I think that was the idea. My question: what kind of connection are these women having?
Meri and Robyn definitely have a very “close” relationship. I have always gotten a bisexual vibe from Meri and I think she fell in love with Robyn in the biblical sense.
I’m pleasantly surprised by this one as far as the reactions go. I can imagine it’s a really really hard thing to get the nerve up to tell your family about – and I get that it can take some processing time from some parents as well. But Kody – for the record I think he’s a doofy man-child, but not a bad guy per se – so far seems like a good example of loving their kid unconditionally. Which is how it SHOULD be when it comes to this sort of thing, but sadly it isn’t always.
I can’t wait for one of the Duggars kids to come out with 19 kids I am sure one of them is LGBTQ.
Isn’t it like 1 in 10 fits in with the LGBT? Statistically, there is probably 2.
That being said I would fear what that family would do to them. Many poor kids don’t survive the trauma of “conversion therapy”.
I really hope none of them is gay because they would not get a reaction like this. The best case scenario would be a life of pretending to be straight. Coming out would probably mean conversion therapy or worse.
Yeah if one of the Duggar’s is gay they will never tell their parents about it. They will live a sad life of denying who they are because they won’t want to be disowned by their family and it’s been beaten into them that homosexuality leads to being tortured forever in hell which they believe is a real place.
Semi-related note: I’m just here to throw in a plug for Big Love on HBO. I adored that show and highly suggest it! If you’re here for this story, you may like it too!
This!!
I loved Big Love, Bill Paxton did such a great job, now I have to go find it and binge watch from Season 1, thank you for the reminder.
makes sense to me, statistically speaking. That many kids there are bound to be a few who are LGTB…good for her coming out … probably was difficult because her father sucks.
historically speaking, polygamists tend to be pro-LGBTQ marriage b/c of the whole “right to marry whoever you want (and as many as you want)” thing.
That can’t be true, can it? As the majority of polygamists do so for religious reasons. And in those societies it’s not like they also have one woman with 5 husbands. It’s always many women for one man. They are typically more stringent in their religious teachings and thus less accepting. But I can understand where one would think they’d support each other since both are outside of legal marriage. But at the end of the day, I think it’s highly likely that the polygamists that support gay marriage are likely the minority.
What’s truly surprising is that this show is still on TV.
+1
Now that so many of the kids are coming of age and making their own choices based on how they were raised (not Mariah necessarily), I find it to be fascinating. Especially Kody’s reaction to it all.
I hate the show and its premise. But I think they’re trying at least, which is nice? I mean, sincerity often goes a long way, often a lot more than parents who are “with it” but still often fail to be empathetic to their kids’ problems. I don’t know what the case is here, but it’s nice of them to be so public about doing their best and loving their kid. Good for them I guess.
I am not one for reality shows, but for some reason I am weirdly fascinated with this family. Talk about a complicated life. At the end of the day, they do seem loving, and I hope at the end of the day they will continue to lovingly support Mariah.
The preview for next week’s episode had Meri upset because all of the other parents were being so supportive and telling Mariah how great it was. I don’t think the parents, in general, are particularly bothered by gayness. They (Janelle) said in previous seasons that the odds are 1 or 2 of their kids are gay and they were not bothered by that.
And Meri’s just upset because crying and acting like a victim is how she tries to get love and affection from her family. She’s probably going to guilt Mariah about not telling her first.
My first reaction was, “Statistically, one of you had to be.” Wouldn’t be surprised if she weren’t the only one.