Chip Gaines Defends Gay Family on TV Show

Chip Gaines Defends Gay Couple on Back to the Frontier – Claps Back at Franklin Graham’s Backlash

By: Paul Goldberg, Senior Editor | JRL CHARTS – LGBT Politics USA

LAS VEGAS — (July 17, 2025) — Back to the Frontier, a new series hosted by Chip and Joanna Gaines, is facing criticism from conservative circles over the inclusion of a married gay couple and their twin sons — and Gaines isn’t having it.

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The show, which features modern families living like 1800s homesteaders, includes Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs — a married couple raising their 10-year-old twin boys. While most viewers praised the decision, right-wing religious figures, including Franklin Graham, quickly lashed out.

In a post that reeked of evangelical scolding, Graham called the casting “very disappointing,” claiming, “Promoting something that God defines as sin is in itself sin.” He went on to say, “God’s design for marriage is between one man and one woman.”

I hope this isn’t true, but I read today that Chip and Joanna Gaines are featuring a gay couple in their new series. If It is true, it is very disappointing. While we are to love people, we should love them enough to tell them the truth of God’s Word. His Word is absolute truth.…

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) July 12, 2025

Let’s be clear: conservatives do not get to dictate what is reality and what isn’t. They do not get to define what’s “acceptable” for the rest of us — nor should their approval be required for visibility. Gay families existed in the 1800s. They existed in ancient Rome, Mesopotamia, and they exist now. If that shakes your doctrine, that’s your problem — not society’s.

Contrary to the outdated idea that every piece of television must be filtered through a lens of religious validation, the world has moved on. While Franklin Graham and his ilk rant from the sidelines, the rest of America is watching a family just like theirs — only with two dads — exist on screen with dignity, joy, and no apologies.

Chip Gaines, choosing grace over fire, replied on X with a message that struck deeper than any sermon:

“Talk, ask questions, listen… maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge first, understand later/never. 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.”

Well I appreciate that.. sincerely. So if you admire and appreciate us so much. Any chance there’s more to this? But that’s my point.. no one knows. But the “Christians” have certainly come out in full force as if they do know.. “judge not….” “Love one another” its not difficult

— Chip Gaines (@chipgaines) July 13, 2025