Southern gospel singer Kirk Talley has opted to downplay the antigay extortion committed against him early this year — and to go silent about the details of his exgay restoration, perhaps fearing retaliation by those in the Southern gospel community who harshly criticized Talley rather than the extortionist.

Amid the silence and the hate, however, Southern gospel music blogger Avery points out that there are also voices of people like Bill Gaither, who “has fought the toxic hatefulness of so much contemporary evangelicalism and offered a corrective alternative to that toxicity” with his welcoming comments about songwriter and inspirationalist Marsha Stevens, who is lesbian.

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