By Lisa Bourne 

“It’s a small group creating this fuss. All it has done is give us more exposure. We’ve gained 50,000 Facebook fans last week. God is expanding our borders through the national media.” -Jim Bob Duggar

(Tontitown, AR)—Fans of the Duggar family’s reality TV show, 19 Kids and Counting, who were worried that TLC might kick the show off the air in response to a recent petition campaign by leftist activists, can rest easy: the show isn’t going anywhere. Far from it.

In fact, according to the patriarch of the Duggar clan, the concerted media attack targeting the family’s views on traditional marriage had the opposite of the desired effect: not only will TLC not pull their show, the petition gave the family huge additional exposure.

“They won’t succeed,” Jim Bob Duggar told a collegiate booster banquet audience in response to the petition campaign at the height of the media focus, according to The Washington Post. “Our show is the number one show on TLC. We love everybody.”

“It’s a small group creating this fuss. All it has done is give us more exposure. We’ve gained 50,000 Facebook fans last week,” Duggar said. “God is expanding our borders through the national media.”

Duggar has good reason not to worry over the petition, the Post observed, pointing out that fans of the show responded to the petition seeking to pull them off the air with a concerted counter-attack of their own.

LifeSiteNews launched its Defend the Duggar’s petition and an accompanying Tweetfest in November, which swiftly came from behind to trounce the anti-Duggar campaign, ultimately gaining 210,000 signatures.

This number was “more than the petition telling TLC to scrap the popular series,” the Post observed.

The anti-Duggar petition gained traction only after large national media outlets like E! Online and The Huffington Post picked up on it.

In contrast, LifeSiteNews’ effort to defend the Duggars exploded immediately with no help from the media, surpassing 10,000 signatures in its first five hours, nearing 90,000 by the end of the first day and exceeding 120,000 in two days. (Photo via LifeSiteNews)

The anti-Duggar campaign specifically objected to Michelle Duggar’s actions in speaking out against a proposed Fayetteville, Arkansas, “transgender” city ordinance that allowed biological males to use restrooms, public showers, and changing rooms of the opposite sex. The organizers of the change.orgpetition accused the Duggars of fear mongering and “bigotry.”

The ordinance initially passed, but was later overturned by voters in a special election.