Television personality Chip Gaines defended the inclusion of a same-sex couple in “Back to the Frontier,” a new show featuring him and his wife, Joanna, about families who give up technology and try to live as homesteaders did in the 1800s.

Texas-based reality stars and Christians Chris and Joanna Gaines have squared off against conservative hardliners over the casting of a same-sex couple in their new Magnolia Network series, Back to the Frontier.

Chip and Joanna Gaines are responding to backlash over the latest show in their media empire. Chip Gaines took to social media on Sunday to defend their new Magnolia Network reality series, “Back to the Frontier.” The show drew criticism from some Christian conservatives for featuring a gay couple, Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs.