Someone else accused Hatmaker of “the very definition of rainbow washing: zero authentic investment in the queer community despite living [in] the state with the highest number of anti-LGBTQ bills in the nation. Not saying anything about queer people until pride when you want to profit. Gross.”
Hatmaker lives in Austin, Texas. After she publicly affirmed same-sex relationships in 2016, Lifeway pulled her books from its shelves.
In a May 30 blog post, Hatmaker credited late Christian author Rachel Held Evans as “the primary influence on my then-evangelical life that led me into a fully affirming position for my LGBTQ+ neighbors.” Hatmaker described experiencing a “spiritual crisis” and “cognitive dissonance” about a decade ago, when “my evangelical edges were fraying.” Then, in stepped Held Evans, whose “brilliant mind and pastor’s heart paved a way not around the Bible but straight through it to an affirming position with a clear conscience.”
Hatmaker praised the legacy of Held Evans, who died in 2019, writing, “You made the church and the world safer for my daughter and all the sons and daughters.”
