HGTV, Chipper Gaines offer responses to Fixer Upper anti-gay allegations: ‘Do everything in love’

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The Chip and Joanna Gaines anti-gay rumors have been swirling for days, thanks to the controversial views of their mega-church’s pastor. Jimmy Seibert, the head of the Antioch Community Church in Waco, got the Gainses into some trouble on the day of the Fixer Upper Season 4 premiere, after a BuzzFeed story unearthed anti-gay and pro-conversion therapy comments the pastor made on several occasions–most notably in his first sermon after the 2015 Supreme Court ruling making gay marriage legal in all 50 states. (Click here to see Seibert’s full 2015 sermon, along with some of his other inflammatory remarks.)

Though neither Joanna nor Chip Gaines had ever made public statements regarding their views on same sex marriage or widely condemned conversion therapy practices, the report put pressure on Fixer Upper home network HGTV, which regularly features gay couples and individuals on its other shows. (To date, a gay couple has yet to appear on Fixer Upper.) Now, HGTV has offered a brief statement of support of the LGBT community, in an effort at clarifying matters. “We don’t discriminate against members of the LGBT community in any of our shows,” the network said, according to Variety. “HGTV is proud to have a crystal clear, consistent record of including people from all walks of life in its series.”

In addition, Chipper Gaines himself took to Twitter with a series of statements that didn’t address the issue directly, but appeared to assuage the fears of many fans. Their main takeaway? According to Chip, we should “Do everything in love”:

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Fixer Upper Season 4 airs Tuesday nights on HGTV.

RELATED ARTICLE: Chip and Joanna Gaines conversion therapy controversy threatens to overshadow Fixer Upper Season 4

(Photo credits: Chip and Joanna Gaines anti-gay via Twitter, Instagram)


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