'Sad Sunday': Christian power couple smacks down evangelical conservatives in rare public statement

Slate writer David Mack cheered what he considers the uncommon bravery of a Christian power couple making a stand against intolerance.

Chip and Joanna Gaines, a mainstay of the HGTV universe, are more prone to beat down kitchen walls than bigotry. But Mack said “the couple have suddenly found themselves embroiled in a good ol’ Christian backlash because they broke their traditional mold” by acknowledging the existence of LGBTQ+ people in a show episode.

The Gaineses built an empire on home renovation, running five seasons complete with three spinoffs. Mack credits the married couple for popularizing “farmhouse chic” in the 2010s, which inspired a boom in giant white house construction across the U.S.

But then, more recently, the couple cast a same-sex couple, Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs, and their twin sons on a new Magnolia Network show, ‘Back to the Frontier’. The Hanna-Riggs family was one of three to spend the summer living as if they were back in the 1880s, without technology or the conveniences of modern life.

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That, said Mack, was “something that far-right religious bigots apparently cannot tolerate.”

“Rather than shy away from the controversy, or speak in vague platitudes as in the past, Chip spent much of the weekend on X defending the Hanna-Riggs family and criticizing the hatred they are facing from his fellow Christians,” said Mack.

“Talk, ask questions, listen … maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, understand later/never,” Gaines posted on Sunday, in response to finger wagging from Evangelistic Association President Franklin Graham. “It’s a sad Sunday when ‘non believers’ have never been confronted with hate or vitriol until they are introduced to a modern American Christian.”

Gaines followed his post up in the comments section with further demands that Christians heed the Bible’s principles of loving one another and not judging others.

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One critic on X demanded: “Why are you promoting homosexuality as a Christian? … Why support homosexuals buying kids?” to which Gaines responded by re-posting scripture from the critic’s own X bio: “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3:15.”

Gaines also denied that he was being prompted by the Magnolia board of directors or PR to adopt this stance or because one of his children is LGBTQ.

Mack said he found Gaines' position inspirational, but also noted the extent to which many on the right with “established online reputations as firebrands” rely on stoking outrage, even "at people with whom they may actually have many things in common.”

“In Donald Trump’s America, it’s not enough to be hating privately; you have to be seen hating,” Mack said.

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See the full Slate Magazine report at this link.