Derick Dillard, husband of "Counting On" star Jill Duggar Dillard, has thanked fans for their support after he was booted off the TLC reality show due to his comments about transgender teen Jazz Jennings.
"Thank you to all those who have supported us and given us so many words of encouragement recently. God bless you all!" he tweeted.
Earlier, the father-of-two tweeted the Proverb, "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22)," and shared a quote from Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren.
The quote reads: "Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate."
As reported, TLC officially severed its ties with Dillard earlier this month after after he refused to use feminine pronouns when referring to Jennings, who decided to transition from male to female at a young age.
"I pity Jazz, 4 those who take advantage of him in order 2 promote their agenda, including the parents who allow these kinds of decisions 2 be made by a child. It's sad that ppl would use a juvenile this way. Again, nothing against him, just unfortunate what's on tv these days," he wrote.
Dillard later added, "Also, has anyone looked into whether a child is capable of making that kind of decision. We can't vote til we're 18; our brains aren't fully developed til around 25."
He also hit back at critics who accused him of bullying the teenage reality star.
"Never bullied anyone, just said I didn't agree with what is being propagated on TV," he said. "I'm expressing my view of what should be treated as reality; if I say I feel like I am Nepali, that doesn't make me so."
Previously, Dillard replied to a tweet from TLC urging people watch "I Am Jazz" by pointing out that gender is ordained by God at birth.
"What an oxymoron... a 'reality' show which follows a non-reality," he wrote. "'Transgender' is a myth. Gender is not fluid; it's ordained by God."
At the time, Jennings responded: "Every day I experience cyber-bullying, but I keep sharing my story. Today was no different."
TLC released a statement on Twitter last week announcing that Derick would no longer be appearing on the network: "We want to let our viewers know that Derick Dillard has not participated in 'Counting On' for months and the network has no plans to feature him in the future. We want to reiterate that Derick's personal statements do not reflect the views of the network. TLC is proud to share the story of Jazz Jennings and her family and will continue to do so."
While the rest of the Duggar clan has remained silent regarding the issue, Amy (Duggar) King, Dillard's cousin-in-law, called for compassion in the wake of the controversy.
"You might not agree with someone or their lifestyle," she tweeted, "but you SHOULD be compassionate and show God's love regardless to everyone."
