The Duggars defended their decision to remove photos of same-sex couples kissing from their Facebook page on Thursday.
The "19 Kids and Counting" family quoted a Bible verse in the face of the backlash they received, and stated that they will "always stand for truth."
Duggar matriarch and patriarch Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar posted a photo of themselves kissing on Instagram after their daughter, Jessa, posted a kissing photo with her husband, Ben Seewald. The Seewalds also posted a photo of Ben kissing Jessa on the cheek.
This week, the Duggars asked their over 360,000 Facebook fans to share photos of themselves kissing their spouses.
"God designed marriage to be a loving, dynamic relationship between a husband and wife for a lifetime," they wrote. "God loves marriage and it is supposed to be full of love, joy, fun, and romance."
When photos with same-sex couples kissing were uploaded to the fan page, however, some were reportedly deleted. LGBT activist John Becker said that he was also banned from the page after posting a picture of himself and his husband kissing.
"[Our photo] was getting lots of likes, but the Duggars must not have liked it very much — they pulled it down and blocked me from posting, liking, or commenting on the page altogether," he wrote on The Bilerico Project. "How sad that they feel so threatened by other loving marriages."
After receiving a strong backlash that included more same-sex photos being uploaded, the Duggars responded to the controversy.
"Luke 6:27 'But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you,'" they shared on Facebook.
"This is such a sweet scripture that we hold dear. We will always stand for truth and the values we hold dear without compromise but we will do so in love and kindness--treating others well even if we don't agree with them and we will do so without hateful words.
"This verse is a reminder of how we must always carry ourselves," they continued. Precious words from Jesus."
Although Becker was not happy with the Duggars' decision to remove his photo, he acknowledged that it is their prerogative.
"It's their page, of course, so they have every right to do that," he said.
