I was recently scrolling through Instagram when I stopped at a post from Guy Benson, a Fox News personality and political analyst.

"She's here, and she's perfect," Benson wrote, announcing the birth of his daughter, Madison Halsey. "Our hearts are filled to the brim. … We are just so thankful."

My first thought: I was happy for him. So were plenty of others – the post has more than 15,000 likes.

Not everyone was sharing in the joy. That includes some of Benson's fellow conservatives.

Benson is conservative in the classic free-market, limited-government mold, and one of the sharper political observers working today. He's also openly gay, married and – as of Madison's birth – twice a father via surrogate. His son arrived in 2023.

The pushback and preaching aimed at Benson and his husband, at what should be one of the happiest moments of their lives, rubs me the wrong way. It's a sign of weakness in the conservative movement when its purity tests undercut the very values it claims to defend – marriage and family – just........

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