CP's Most Popular Entertainment Stories of 2017
1. 'Fixer Upper's Chip Gaines on LGBT Backlash: Disagreement Is Not Hate, 'Don't Believe That Lie'
HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines found themselves in the middle of a media storm after secular news reports revealed that they attend a church that teaches the biblical definition of a marriage as being between one man and one woman.
"This past year has been tough. In my lifetime, I can't recall humanity being more divided. Plenty of folks are sad and scared and angry and there are sound bites being fed to us that seem fueled by judgment, fear and even hatred. Jo and I refuse to be baited into using our influence in a way that will further harm an already hurting world, this is our home. A house divided cannot stand," Chip Gaines wrote at the top of the year as part of a post on Magnolia Market titled "New Year's Revelation."
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While Gaines did not specifically address the controversy surrounding the couple's Pastor Jimmy Seibert of the Antioch Community Church in Waco, Texas, whose teaching that homosexuality is a sin was targeted by LGBT activists who demanded HGTV cancel "Fixer Upper," he wrote that the only way to treat people who are different is with "dignity and with love."
"Joanna and I have personal convictions. One of them is this: we care about you for the simple fact that you are a person, our neighbor on planet Earth. It's not about what color your skin is, how much money you have in the bank, your political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender, nationality or faith," he wrote.
"That's all fascinating, but it cannot add or take away from the reality that we're already pulling for you. We are not about to get in the nasty business of throwing stones at each other, don't ask us to 'cause we won't play that way."
