Chip and Jo's Pastor Is Against Same-Sex Marriage
The fourth season of HGTV's wildly popular show Fixer Upper premiered Tuesday night, and while hosts Chip and Joanna Gaines were just as lovable as ever, a recent deep-dive from BuzzFeed has uncovered something many fans will likely want an explanation for.
As the article explains, the Gaines family are devout Christians and attend Antioch Community Church - where their pastor, Jimmy Seibert, is both staunchly against same-sex marriage and a strong believer that homosexuality is a "lifestyle" choice and a "sin."
Given the diversity of Fixer Upper's audience, this is a startling revelation that has left many wondering where Chip and Jo stand. Seibert - who recently referred to the couple as "dear friends" - has made unfounded and dangerous claims during one of his sermons, in one instance preaching that "the statistics say that 90 percent of people who are in a full-blown homosexual lifestyle were abused in some way. Physically, sexually, mentally," and, "[you can] help [LGBTQ people] direct their passions rightly to how God created them." During the same sermon, he also stated his belief that it is possible for a person to "personally change their direction of same-sex attraction from a homosexual lifestyle to a heterosexual lifestyle." In response to the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage in 2015, he said it was a "biblical admonition."
"So if someone were to say, ‘Marriage is defined in a different way,’ let me just say: They are wrong," he said. "God defined marriage, not you and I. God defined masculine and feminine, male and female, not you and I."
While it is unclear if Chip and Jo agree with Seibert's beliefs, BuzzFeed notes their request for comment from the couple's company, Magnolia, and HGTV's PR department (asking to see if they would ever feature a same-sex couple on Fixer Upper specifically) their messages went unanswered. And while fans shouldn't necessarily jump to conclusions about what this might mean, for many people who watch the show, their silence speaks volumes.
Here's hoping they speak up about this soon.
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