A few years ago, my wife and I walked along Coeur d’Alene’s lakeside in northern Idaho. One of the most striking features of the lakefront neighborhoods was the unique designs of the brand-new houses, all recently constructed in the wake of the post-lockdown flood to Idaho. They were all different in layout, yet somehow all the same. We realized that we had seen similar houses throughout our cross-country trip, but the first place we had seen this particular style was during a visit to Waco, Texas, two years prior.
Steady Gaines
Since that time on Coeur d’Alene Lake, we’ve seen the same residential designs spread across Southern Appalachia like wildfire as our region receives waves of blue-state refugees. The massive popularity of minimalist, open-concept farmhouse architecture is due mostly to the vast empire forged by Chip and Joanna Gaines, the co-founders of the Magnolia Network. Since the 2013 pilot episode of their home improvement reality show Fixer Upper, Magnolia has grown to the point that many now think of Chip and Joanna restoring farm houses instead of the Branch Davidians when Waco, TX, is mentioned in conversation. Magnolia restaurants, coffee shops, and markets with overpriced mugs have become fixtures in Waco, but their impact on interior/exterior design has been felt the world over.
The Gaines’s success has been consistently celebrated as a significant cultural win for Christians. In a similar way to the Duck Dynasty craze of 2012-2013, their presentation of a wholesome, healthy marriage with respectful, well-adjusted kids has provided a tremendously positive image for American evangelicals. Their range of products and designs is invoking nostalgic Americana — old trucks, cast-iron pans, and lemonade jugs. But it hasn’t always been a smooth journey.
“Anti-LGBT”
Back in 2016, Buzzfeed attempted to make a stir by “exposing” Chip and Joanna’s church, Antioch Community Church, as “anti-LGBT.” To lead Pastor Jimmy Seitbert’s credit, a fairly robust stance was taken following the Obergefell ruling in 2015, Seibert putting off his routine message to address the subject of homosexuality directly (the church still defends the biblical position on its website, if somewhat softly). The Gaines managed to sail through the situation relatively unscathed, choosing to remain mostly quiet, allowing time and their natural charm to largely quiet dissenters. HGTV did some damage control and released a statement of reassurance: “We don’t discriminate against the LGBT community in any of our shows.”
Buzzfeed asked in the same 2016 piece, “So are the Gaineses against same-sex marriage? And would they ever feature a same-sex couple on the show, as have HGTV’s House Hunters and Property Brothers?”
On July 10, 2025, an answer was finally provided.
Queer Pioneers
Back to the Frontier is an Oregon-Trailesque reality show on the Magnolia Network where families compete to homestead, living, working, and dressing like they’re 19th-century pioneers. While the series would have made a splash only in the hearts and minds of wholesome housewives who enjoy such reality fare, instead, the release preview of the show was marked by a deluge of objections from throngs of loyal fans. Included among the “famlies” competing in the show were two men and their “children,” two young boys.
The two men featured on the show indicated in a recent interview that an advertisement for Back to the Frontier featured a gay couple, which was what enticed them to apply to be contestants. They made no bones about one of their chief purposes in being featured on the show: “to normalize same-sex families.”
The situation rapidly became clear: Chip and Joanna Gaines, whether they thought of it this way or not, were facilitating the explicit furtherance of very particular LGBT propaganda meant to normalize not only “gay families,” but the purchase and trafficking of children to such “families.
A Cacophony of Cognitive Dissonance
As disapproval from the likes of Franklin Graham poured in, Chip Gaines took to X for a response. He wrote,
“Talk, ask qustns, listen.. maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, 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.”
Chip engaged a few times with some of his critics, responding to one inquiry as to why the show was openly promoting homosexuality by quoting 1 Peter 3:15: 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. His implication was simply that he, ostensibly, wasn’t treated with “gentleness and respect” in being reprimanded for the decision.
In the face of direct questions from fellow Christians over the choice to promote a “gay family,” Chip’s responses have essentially amounted to “judge not” and “you’re not being nice.” These vague platitudes have become the standard response when confronted with Scriptural exhortation, especially for those of the mega-church, Hollywood-adjacent brand. Chip suggests “asking questions,” but he and Joanna have already provided the answers.
The righteous indignation of Christians has much less to do with an “unwillingness to listen” and much more to the promotion of something that, in addition to Scripture calling an “abomination,” flies in the face of thousands of years of the most basic moral understanding. To add insult to injury, it’s not just a “gay couple” that viewers are being asked to accept as normal, but also the normalization of gay surrogacy, an abominable practice that essentially amounts to human trafficking with a few extra steps.
But should Christian fans really be that surprised?
Magnolia’s mission is stated, “We believe in human kindness, knowing we are made better when we all work together. It’s a nice sentiment, but it has less tangible, Christian meaning than In-N-Out Burger printing “John 3:16” on the bottom of their disposable cups. The Gaines’s famously aren’t upfront about their Christianity on Fixer Upper aside from including a Scripture reference here and there in an interior design, being far more timid than shows like Duck Dynasty or even 19 and Counting.
The irony of Return to the Frontier’s timing is that it comes when taking stands for biblical truth and morality, especially in the area of sexuality is actually easier than it’s been in previous years. Support for homosexual marriage has begun to wane, especially among conservative-minded Americans. Purposely offending the most basic values of their most devoted fans indicates that the progressive influences from their media empire have become far more influential than the Bible-believing, salt-of-the-earth people who have supported them over the last decade.
On the Sunday morning after the initial dust-up over Return to the Frontier, Chip wrote, “On our way to church… Ya’ll enjoy this beautiful Sunday!” This was a quotation of a post he’d put almost a decade ago when he and Joanna were being flooded with vitriol fromthe LGBT world in which he said, “In times of trouble.. you’ll find the gaines family at church.” The correlation is clear. As they had dealt with criticism for being “anti-gay” in 2016 by going to church, they’d now do the same.
Since Chip suggested “asking questions,” here’s a pertinent one:
Did you really think you could walk a line between two sides engaged in a spiritual war without having to pick one?
