HGTV personality Jen Hatmaker recently discussed the significant repercussions she encountered from the religious community after expressing her support for LGBTQIA+ rights.
“Living with integrity has no price tag. It’s invaluable,” said Hatmaker, 51, during the September 16 episode of the “Jamie Kern Lima Show” podcast. “It felt like I took my first deep breath of fresh air in ten years.”
In 2016, Jen and her then husband Brandon Hatmaker publicly supported same-sex marriage, with Jen later advocating for full acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community within Christianity. The television host and author has also emerged as a vocal advocate for transgender youth rights.
Hatmaker shared with host Jamie Kern Lima that her transformation in understanding same-sex relationships stemmed from reflecting on biblical teachings “with a mature perspective.”
“I learned to interpret this information differently, independent of the spiritual figures who dictated my thoughts,” she recalled.
The Your Big Family Renovation alum explained that she initially experienced “cognitive dissonance” between her self-evolving beliefs and her early spiritual teachings.
“It became unbearable since my mind had changed. I reevaluated [the issue] using mature thought and discernment and said, ‘I don’t believe that. I don’t think that’s true at all,’” Hatmaker asserted. “Not just because of my beliefs but also because of what I observe! … It’s not only incorrect, but it also inflicts pain and has dire consequences.”
After deciding to publicly align with a historically marginalized community, Jen endured backlash from those who staunchly embraced traditional religious beliefs.
“I was well aware of the community … I’ve been around long enough to foresee the repercussions. Talk about ‘cancel culture.’ It marked the culmination of my journey,” she stated regarding the negative response. “There was no path after that, and I was aware of it.”
Hatmaker shared how, in the beginning, she felt “fearful” about transitioning from being “a beloved figure in evangelical circles” to a social outcast among her associations.
Jen Hatmaker in April 2021. Paul Archuleta/Getty Images
“That marked the conclusion of my sense of belonging in that space,” she remarked. “It felt like the end of my previous career. … Yet, there I was, grappling with the knowledge of my duplicity — knowing I believed one thing while allowing the [LGBTQIA+] community to suffer within the subculture I was part of and thriving in — I could no longer endure it. I couldn’t face myself in the mirror any longer.”
She elaborated, “I realized I had to choose between retaining my career or safeguarding my integrity. I couldn’t have both.”
After expressing her opposition to evangelical teachings, her bestselling books were swiftly removed from distribution “overnight.”
“There was an enormous amount of loss,” she recognized. “The backlash was truly intimidating. It drew a lot of attention. It was anything but subtle. It was loud and flashy.”
Hatmaker continued, “I lost numerous friends, countless partners — essentially, I lost everything, I suppose.”
Nonetheless, Hatmaker emphasized that she doesn’t consider her journey “a sorrowful narrative” as she advocated for a community that profoundly required support from high-profile individuals. She later conveyed to Kern Lima, 48, that numerous spiritual leaders privately expressed solidarity with her regarding LGBTQIA+ rights but feared repercussions for speaking out.
She disclosed, “It has been a decade since that rift, and I no longer belong to that [evangelical] community; I’ve since built a new life on my own, but even now, I receive discreet messages from pastors, preachers, and significant ministry leaders saying, ‘I completely agree with you on this theologically, but I would lose everything if I voiced it.’ I urge them, ‘You will, so when you’re ready to face that cost, reach out to me.’”
Hatmaker concluded, “That cost is negligible compared to what you gain and what we owe to the community. … We owe them our support. We owe them our honesty. We owe them allyship. … It’s an easy price to pay in retrospect.”
