Laura DeMasie -  I'm Allowed to Spend Time With Jana Duggar Again! TLC Counting ON
Channel: The Famous Room
Date: 13/02/2021

If you're hoping that the Duggar family might one day join the 21st century, we're afraid you're out of luck.



And if you're hoping that they'll eventually catch up with the ideals and customs of the 20th century -- well, you're gonna have to resign yourself to the fact that the progress will be very, very slow.



You see, as long as Jim Bob is the one calling the shots, the Duggar clan will inch toward modernity at a glacial pace, and the women in the family will suffer the most.

Just ask Jana Duggar and Laura DeMasie, who spent years paying for the crime of forming a close female friendship.

The Duggars are skeptical of outsiders, and they're appallingly homophobic, which is reportedly why Laura was sent away when she started spending too much time with Jana.



Although to be fair, it wasn't entirely the amount of time they spent with one another, it was the nature of their activities.

Jana and Laura were known to plan unchaperoned vacations together, which is strictly forbidden for women in the Duggar clan -- even if, like Jana, they're over the age of 30.



What eventually spurred Jim Bob to take action and deny his eldest daughter the simple joy of companionship was a rumor that Jana and Laura were in a lesbian relationship.



And so, Laura was sent away for fear that she would corrupt poor, innocent Jana.

Jim Bob doesn't have the power to forcibly exile people from the state of Arkansas (yet ...), so he hooked Laura up with a job, and he (allegedly) strongly suggested that she relocate.



Now, however, Laura is back, and it looks like she's no longer persona non grata in the Duggar household.



On Super Bowl Sunday, the entire extended Duggar clan gathered (without masks, of course) to watch the game.

Laura was in attendance, as revealed by this photo that Anna posted on Instagram.



"Laura recruited Mason to help cheer for the Bucs! Enjoying the game," she captioned the pic.



Inviting a family friend over to watch the game may not seem like a big deal -- even if said friend is a Bucs fan -- but in this case, it is.

The Jana-Laura situation was a minor scandal for the Duggars just over a year ago.



The fact that Laura is back in Arkansas and spending time in the Duggar "big house" is a solid indication that some major changes took place.

Did Jana put the pressure on Jim Bob to stop being such a monstrous bigot?

Did she threaten to walk out and leave Jim Bob and Michelle to perform their own household chores and raise their own children?

We might never know for sure, but for whatever reason, Jim Bob appears to have undergone a change of heart on this particular issue.



You can bet that he's still a homophobe, but at least he's not openly antagonizing his eldest daughter anymore.



As we said earlier, change in  the Duggar family is rare, and when it does happen, it happens very, very slowly.