Pence says he’s ‘heartened’ after transgender former CIA briefer praises his treatment of her

There's something almost old-fashioned about this story, and we mean that as a compliment. A conservative vice president who spent his career opposing the policy agenda of LGBTQ activism sat across from a transgender intelligence officer every morning for four years and simply treated her like a professional doing her job. No press release, no photo op, no attempt to launder his image. It only came out because she said so, years later, unprompted.

That's the part worth sitting with. Pence didn't have to change his views to be decent to the person briefing him on national security threats. He didn't pretend to agree with her on the underlying policy questions, and by his own account he still doesn't. But he apparently never let disagreement curdle into contempt, which is a distinction a lot of people on all sides of these fights have forgotten exists. You can think a policy is wrong and still respect the human being standing in front of you delivering the President's daily brief.

We'd like to think this is unremarkable, but the fact that it made news tells you it isn't. Somewhere along the way, American politics decided that holding a traditional position on gender and sexuality automatically meant you couldn't be trusted around anyone who didn't fit that mold. Curlee's account complicates that story, and complicating simple stories is usually where the truth lives.

None of this resolves the actual policy disputes, and Pence would be the first to say so. But character isn't the same thing as ideology, and this is a good reminder that the two don't have to travel together.