Gospel Singer Kim Burrell Apologizes for Homophobic Remarks

Gospel singer Kim Burrell has a long history of homophobic remarks. But this weekend she made amends. While accepting the Aretha Franklin Icon Award at the 39th annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards, Burrell offered an apology to the LGBTQ community for the "hurtful" comments she's made over the years, Billboard reports.

"I have, over the course of time and with much soul-searching, come to fully understand the reach and impact of my voice beyond Gospel music," the singer explained. "There is such a care to take when you realize you're not just preaching to the choir anymore. You're preaching to the ones who wanted to be in the choir and were too scared to come because they didn't understand our language. ... [I] understand that some of my past words, comments, preaching have been received by the LGBTQ+ community as negative and hurtful. There's nothing more hurtful than to think – to imagine – that you've said something in the name of God, and it hurt somebody."

The singer continued, claiming that her use of "church lingo" may have contributed to her ignorant comments. "We have a church jargon that everybody doesn't get. And sometimes you have to say it for the people in the back. And for that, I want to apologize to the LGBTQ community. Let's give them a great big round of applause," she said to the audience. "We want them to have strength and to sincerely know that we must all do the work to embrace all of God's people. Tonight, I hope this award and this moment can be the beginning of bridge-building and listening to each other as we follow peace with all men and develop the character of God, which requires seeing God."

In 2017 Burrell gave a sermon in which she called LGBTQ+ people "perverted" and told those living with a "homosexual spirit" that "I love you and God loves you but God hates the sin in you and me." "As a result of Burrell's sermon, Ellen DeGeneres canceled the singer's appearance on her talk show, saying at the time, 'There's no room for any kind of prejudice in 2017,'" Billboard writes.

At the time, Burrell claimed she lost endorsements and relationships following her sermon, even claiming that she was shot at, according to the website Blavity.

"I had helicopters flying over my home. I had constables and sheriffs living outside my house for seven days," she said about the increased security she needed.

Darian Aaron, a regional spokesperson for GLAAD, said in statement that apology merely is "a first step" toward "accountability and healing" for the community.

"Black LGBTQ people who remain in traditional faith communities are very familiar with the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric Burrell and others have espoused throughout her career," he wrote. "We are well-versed in the 'lingo and jargon' of Black church culture and a gospel music industry that benefits from our gifts but demands us to be silent about our truth. ... Burrell's speech is evidence of a tipping point where Burrell, the Black church, and the gospel music industry can recognize and accept us all as people of faith and as worthy of Black liberation as anyone else."

Read GLAAD's full statement here.