Home Christian News Did Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman Affirm the LGBTQ+ Community?

Did Switchfoot’s Jon Foreman Affirm the LGBTQ+ Community?

Jon Foreman Answers Baldridge

Less than 24 hours later, Foreman posted a video thanking Baldridge for attending the show the night before, saying he had seen her previous video. “Yes,” Foreman said, “I support your rights to freedoms. I want you to feel loved and supported. I want you to feel treasured and valued and seen. I want all love and joy and beauty and truth for you.”

“Love and embrace has always been central to our story and our song,” Foreman continued. “We need our differences. I am so glad that you were there last night. In fact, it breaks my heart to think that you would not be accepted. Let me correct that. You and your journey and your story are welcome at a Switchfoot show.”

Recalling what he said the night before, the “Meant to Live” singer went on to say, “If you look different than me, if you vote different than me, if you believe different than me, if you love different than me, you are beloved. You are my sister. You are my brother. I need you like you need me…Our music has always been for anyone who’s open-minded enough to jump into the dialogue—agnostic, atheist, consumerist, Jewish, Muslim, doubters, believers, haters, lovers, LGBTQ+—and everyone else who’s brave enough to look for meaning and truly jump into that.”

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“No one else is an expert on someone else’s experience, and I can’t pretend to know your pain,” Foreman told Baldridge. “I can only know my own. I know what it’s like to feel like you don’t fit in.”

Foreman also shared that he knows what it’s like to struggle with depression and anxiety. Switchfoot’s frontman explained he has sometimes felt voiceless in a “hypocritical culture that feels deeply flawed.” Apologizing to Baldridge for the pain and hardships she has been made to endure, Foreman said that he hopes her “wounds heal,” and that they wouldn’t define her.

Encouraging her to continue writing songs and “creating beauty,” Foreman told Baldridge to be honest and chase “truth, light, and love.” He encouraged her to find the good in people, even the ones who are different than her.