Three years have passed since HGTV severed ties with hosts Jason and David Benham over their past saturated with anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and anti-gay activism. Since then the brothers have been seen as mainstream martyrs by conservative Christians and evangelicals, and have found outlets within those communities to further their messages.
Related | HGTV Cancels Planned Benham Brothers Show Over Anti-Gay Remarks
This week, in a column written for Charisma News, the brothers ironically called out homophobia for being a societal fabrication. "Discrimination against gay people simply does not exist," they wrote. "To say otherwise is disingenuous at best and misleading at worst."
They continued, "You see, this conversation or debate over religious liberty has been framed to suggest Christian business owners are refusing to serve gay people in this country--when in actuality nothing could be further from the truth. Religious objections in the marketplace have nothing to do with refusing to service people. Rather, they have everything to do with forced participation in ceremonies, messages and events that are against believers' consciences."
The pair then offered examples to illustrate their "point," comparing a recovering alcoholic not promoting alcohol, a substance that "nearly destroyed" the imaginary character's family, to Christians not supporting a local Pride parade. Was this supposed to be a comforting analogy?
