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GLAAD has called the Gospel musician's apology "a first step toward full accountability."
Kim Burrell has apologized for her history of "hurtful" comments about the LGBTQ+ community.
The Gospel musician said during her acceptance speech for the Aretha Franklin Icon Award at the Stellar Awards that "over the course of time and with much soul-searching," she has "come to fully understand the reach and impact of my voice beyond Gospel music."
"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," she said. "Musicians [have] the God-given ability to unite and to heal, and to 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 that you’ve said something in the name of God, and it hurt somebody."
"And for that, I want to apologize to the LGBTQ community. Let’s give them a great big round of applause," Burrell continued, directing the crowd to applaud. "We want them to have strength and to sincerely know that we must all do the work to embrace all of what God’s people—and show forth his love to everyone. Amen. 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.”
Burrell's history of homophobic comments is robust — the pastor called gay people “perverted” in a 2017 sermon, claiming that LGBTQ+ people have been deceived by the “homosexual spirit.” She then warned the crowd at Love & Liberty Fellowship Church in Houston that people who “play with” queer identity will “die from it.”
“The spirit of delusion and confusion, it has deceived many men and women, and it’s caused a stain on the body of Christ,” Burrell said at the time. “To every person who is dealing with the homosexual spirit, that has it, I love you and God loves you but God hates the sin in you and me. Anything that is against the nature of God.”
GLAAD Director of Local News: US South, Darian Aaron, said in a statement that Burrell's recent apology "is but a first step toward full accountability and healing from a record of harmful, inaccurate rhetoric," noting that "her appearance at the Stellar Awards shows the work still to be done."
"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," Aaron said. "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, which is in alignment with the presence of God in our lives."
