Dove Award-winning Christian musician Plumb is receiving pushback from her fans for a social media post celebrating LGBT Pride Month and for changing her bio, indicating she is an “ally.”
Plumb, born Tiffany Arbuckle, has been a popular artist within CCM music since she won a Dove Award in 2000, and as late as 2018, had a Top 20 hit on Billboard’s Christian Airplay chart (Beautifully Broken). In 2020, she landed in the Top 50 on the same chart with a pair of Christmas songs (My Favorite Things, O Holy Night).
She was nominated in 2018 for a K-Love Fan Award (Female Artist of the Year).
“Happy Pride month! To all my LGBTQ+ siblings I see you and I love you!” Plumb wrote on Instagram alongside a depiction of a rainbow.
On her bio, Plumb posted her pronouns (she/her) and a depiction of a rainbow alongside the word “ally.”
Her post received about 1,000 likes each on Instagram and Facebook – but plenty of pushback, too. On each platform, the most popular comments were concerned about her new position.
“I get loving everyone, but the rainbow was God's promise in Genesis. I've never been happy that a rainbow is used for LGBTQ+, but when a Christian musician shares God's promise like this, that is disappointing,” a fan wrote on Facebook. “And I've listened to Plumb for years and have met her.”
“Tiffany, I have listened to your music since your 1st songs,” one person wrote on Instagram. “We are about the same age and so are our kids. I often felt if I knew you we would be friends. I have seen you in concert and also gone through the same things in my marriage as you did at the same time and now also rebuilding as a single mom. But as a Christian this post made me lose a little respect. There is a very big difference between loving everyone and supporting pride month. Sick actually. Love and support the people but do not celebrate something as sinful as pride month. Disappointed here.”
“Loving everyone is what God wants us to do, but supporting their sin is not,” still another person wrote, on Facebook. “I have many friends who are gay, I love them and will always be there for them, but I have always told them I will never support that lifestyle and I continue to pray for them.”
Others, though, thanked her for the post.
“Thank you, I know this is costing you, and I can see the backlash,” a fan wrote on Instagram. “Thank you for the love and the acceptance and being visible with it.”
In January, Plumb said she was set to hear a talk by Colby Martin, the author of The Shift and a leading voice in the progressive Christianity movement who teaches that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality.
“Colby has become a respected voice in the progressive Christianity movement, and I’m interested in that and the things he has to say,” she wrote at the time.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Moses Robinson/Stringer
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
