“Fixer Upper” hosts Chip and Joanna Gaines are starting the new year with a message of conciliation and cooperation in response to rumors that, like their pastor, they’re homophobes.

It’s their first public response to a report in BuzzFeed last November that exposed the anti-gay hate of Pastor Jerry Seibert. The couple attend his Antioch Community Church in uber-red Waco, Texas.

The church lists its conservative Christian beliefs on its website. One in particular states:

“Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.”

The BuzzFeed profile was a followup to an interview appearing in Curbed.com, in which Christian author Kate Henderson asked Joanna Gaines how viewers would respond if HGTV booked a gay couple on their program.

“My hope would be, if they are given that situation, they will just love on [the gay couple], but I would imagine that very conservative Christians in the audience might have a problem with that,” she told Henderson.

Seibert took offense to the accusations of being homophobic and agreed to an “exclusive” conversation with notorious bigot, broadcaster and marriage equality opponent Todd Starnes from Fox. Seibert denied he and his church are in any way anti-gay:

“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.” “For us – our heart has always been to love Jesus, preach the word of God and help people in their journey.”

Seibert was not questioned about his support for conversion or “reparative” therapy, sometimes called “ex-gay” therapy, which has been outlawed in several states. He also wasn’t asked about the role of women, which is clearly explained in this statement on the church’s website:

“A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God, as is her husband, and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his companion in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.”

Now we have a blog post from Chip Gaines, titled, “New Year’s Revelations,” in which he speaks for Joanna and does not directly address being a homophobe or the fact, as reported by USA Today, that the episode descriptions for “Fixer Upper’s” first three seasons as well as the Nov. 29 Season 4 premiere do not feature an LGBTQ client.

But he does offer respect and cooperation, saying: