Dan Haseltine, lead vocalist for Grammy Award and Dove Award-winning Christian band Jars of Clay, shared his support for LGBTQ+ Pride Month on Instagram this past Saturday, June 1.
Pride month is a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community held every June as a tribute to those who were involved in the Stonewall Riots of June 1969.
“Franklin PRIDE festival was a little soggy today,” Haseltine wrote. “Glad to stop by for a brief moment and show my support. Along with Erin Marie and Saint Francis Mission Franklin.”
Haseltine also shared a photo of himself wearing a Nashville shirt displaying a rainbow flag—a symbol adopted by the LGBTQ+ community in 1978 that demonstrates gay pride. Alongside the Jars of Clay lead singer was a child and two others, one of which was a man wearing a shirt with the phrase: “A PASTOR WITH PRIDE.”
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Many of the singer’s followers took issue with his post. One wrote: “Jesus dined with sinners. He didn’t wear their colors or celebrate their sin. We are called to love, not to affirm error,” one person replied. Another posted, “This is incredibly disturbing. A pastor who totally disregards the Word of God is not one who loves sinners. Without repentance there is no salvation.”
“Thank you for revealing who you really are, someone who affirms and enables sinful behavior,” another person wrote on Haseltine’s post. “This is not biblical love. Biblical love is to identify sin and call to repentance. I can no longer support you and your ministry that is leading people astray.”
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The Saint Francis Mission mentioned in Haseltine’s post. The mission meets in an Irish Pub in downtown Franklin and describes itself as a mission “centered around the reconciling table of Jesus. And, since Jesus excludes no one, neither do we.”
Their inclusion statement adds, “So, regardless of your color, ethnicity, gender, social or economic class, marital or relationship status, or sexual orientation, all people of good will are invited to participate fully in our life of faith and service.”
