Recently, The Washington Postpublished a profile of Karen Pence, Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, which included a quote made by Pence in 2002. The quote reads as follows:

“If there's alcohol being served and people are being loose, I want to have the best-looking brunette in the room standing next to me.” -Mike Pence, 2002

Apparently V.P. Pence won’t eat dinner with another woman alone, either. So, why exactly has this resurfaced 15 years later and been so highlighted in the media the past two days? Because, for a while now, a majority of our political leaders and people who are in the lime-light are not conservative Christians. Pence and his family are.

Evangelist Billy Graham actually is the one who introduced this idea in 1948. Billy Graham said that he would not travel, meet, or eat alone with any woman other than his wife. Many different religious figures have followed the “Billy Graham Rule” and have taught it to others. So again I ask, why exactly is such a huge deal being made out of Pence doing it? He’s definitely not the one who came up with the idea, and he’s not the only one to ever follow it.

There have been many, many degrading comments made on social media the last couple of days regarding Pence’s stance on not being with women other than his wife alone. Feminist think he’s being sexist, many people have said that he “can’t resist the urge” whenever he’s around other women, and even a few comments have been made that he likes men. People just can’t seem to accept the fact that he respects his wife.

Never once did Pence say he wouldn’t meet with a woman. He never said he wouldn’t have dinner with a women or do business with a woman or travel with a woman. He simply said he wouldn’t do it alone. Quick question: Would you want your spouse doing these things alone with someone of the opposite gender? If you answer yes, deep down, you know the answer is no because the fear of being cheated on is there thanks to society. I know better than to believe you wouldn’t mind your husband/wife to go out alone with the opposite sex for dinner, even if it was for business.

As a Conservative Christian female millennial, I respect Pence and the fact that he doesn’t do things with women alone. It doesn’t mean that he can’t “control himself” around other women. It doesn’t mean that he’s sexist. It doesn’t mean that he can’t be trusted. Today we see so many failed marriages in our society. Adultery has become the norm and we, as a society, just accept that basically. And that’s not OK.

However, there are some people, like myself, taking a stance on the situation supporting Pence for his respect and love for his wife. Also, there have been multiple comments about how the left supported Bill Clinton although he committed adultery. Now they’re bashing Pence for not. It doesn’t make sense.

When did we come so far as a society to bash someone for respecting their spouse? When did we fall so far off into the deep end that we began to degrade and hate on a Christian man, a man with morals like the ones this Nation was founded on, for doing everything in his power to make his marriage work in a society where marriages typically fail?

You teach your daughters to wait for a man who respects them, however, we judge not just a man, but a politically powerful man, for respecting his wife and setting an example as to not cheat on your woman. It just doesn’t add up. I’m honestly ashamed of where we are morally in the United States today. I’m ashamed of the fact that people are mad a man respects his wife. Mike Pence, for whatever it’s worth, I support you 100 and I hope my future husband respects me as much as you respect Karen.