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Chip Gaines of 'Fixer Upper' asks for 'respect' after report on church's anti-gay stance

WACO, Texas — Nearly a week after BuzzFeed reported that Antioch Community Church, a Waco, Texas, church attended by HGTV's "Fixer Upper" hosts Chip and Joanna Gaines, is anti-gay, one of the show's stars is responding.

The BuzzFeed report said that married couple Chip and Joanna Gaines, who are devout Christians, attend Antioch and that pastor Jimmy Seibert considers the couple to be his "dear friends."

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The church, the report said, "takes a hard line against same-sex marriage and promotes converting LGBT people into being straight." The church's website defines marriage as "the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime."

Relevant Magazine reported that Chip Gaines spoke about the reaction to the report on Twitter Saturday.

"Regardless of our decision to make a statement about all this craziness or not, I ask that people please respect @KateAurthur & @ginamei!" Gaines said, appearing to speak on behalf of himself and his wife.

Gaines didn't directly speak about the controversy and accusations against the church, but he did ask that people respect Kate Aurthur, who wrote the BuzzFeed piece, and Gina Mei, who wrote about the report for Cosmopolitan.

On Sunday, Gaines tweeted, "In times of trouble, you'll find the gaines family at church."

Gaines' tweet comes after Seibert and HGTV responded to the report in separate comments.

"We don't discriminate against members of the LGBT community in any of our shows," HGTV said in a Thursday statement to The Huffington Post. "HGTV is proud to have a crystal clear, consistent record of including people from all walks of life in its series."

"We are not only not anti-gay, but we are pro-helping people in their journey to find out who God is and who He has made them to be," Seibert told Fox News Thursday. "For us, our heart has always been to love Jesus, preach the word of God and help people in their journey."