Joel Osteen Celebrates LGBTQ Pride at Lady Gaga Event

Songs were interspersed with tributes to various homosexual leaders in the gay rights movement. Gaga also lectured the crowd that throughout the evening they would need to pay close attention to using the right gender pronouns, an overture to the “trans community,” because “we are all in this together.” 

Pastor Joel Osteen and his wife, ministers of the Word of Faith prosperity gospel movement, were seen at Lady Gaga’s pride celebration at Apollo Theater. The New York Daily News reports,

Poehler wasn’t the only heavy hitter in the crowd. From Alaska Thunderf–k, a drag performer who won Season 2 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” to the controversial televangelist and anti-LGBTQ pastor Joel Osteen, the event drew an eclectic mix of fans, industry insiders and celebrities, from the movies (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas), the music universe (Clive Davis, Adam Lambert), the fashion world (Alexander Wang), television (John Oliver, Camila Mendes) and the America’s gay Royal couple and Harlem residents Neil Patrick Harris and husband David Burtka.

It was reported that Osteen was wearing a blue blazer while his wife was wearing a long, black dress.

Osteen asserted a few years ago that he believes that the Scriptures are clear that homosexuality is a sin. Yet, he has continuously softened his tone and downplayed the significance toward homosexuality since then. In an effort to remain culturally relevant and inclusive, Osteen generally avoids the topic altogether.

In 2017 during a conversation with with HuffPost’s Marc Lamont Hill and Joel Osteen and his wife Victoria Osteen,  HuffPost Live’s Marc Lamont Hill asked whether gay marriage is against the fundamental “rules” of Christianity.

Osteen replied, “It would be, but I don’t really focus on a lot of those things.” “I try to stay in my lane of what I feel called to do. [Gay marriage] does come up in interviews and things, but that’s not my core message.”

What his message does include, Osteen said, is advising his congregation on how to let go of the past, raise good children and achieve their dreams. He added that the sexuality of gays and lesbians is one of the “issues” faced by many different types of people in his church.

“Everybody’s welcome, but my take on it is it’s easy to make one issue — to become known for that or to let it sidetrack your message,” he said. “If you look at our congregation … including myself, we all have issues. Everybody’s on a journey.”

Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you

2 Corinthians 6:17