In late January, pastor and host Alistair Begg was ousted from American Family Radio, owned by SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ hate group the American Family Association, for advice he recounted offering in a September episode of his show. Begg, who once called gay marriage “an expression of rebellion against God,” advised a grandmother to go to her grandson’s wedding to a trans person to show her love for him, but also make it clear she did not affirm the couple’s relationship.
Despite Begg’s past anti-LGBTQ statements and his lukewarm stance on the matter, right-wing media disapproved of his advice:
While announcing Begg’s departure, the president of AFA compared Begg’s advice to a father enabling his alcoholic son by not driving him to the bar but condoning him going on his own.
The Federalist claimed Begg was endorsing attendance at a “sacrilegious parody of a true wedding” and said that being gay or trans is “the closest analogue” to incest, but “worse.”
Blaze Media host Steve Deace called Begg’s advice “dangerous” and accused the pastor of “idolatry.” Deace also compared attending the wedding to endorsing a serial murderer.
Even a “compassionate response” to Begg’s advice in The Washington Times claimed it defies God’s design of gender and marriage, and said a “Christian who attends an LGBT wedding is risking their witness before God and man.”
