PATRICK KELLEHER FEBRUARY 17, 2020
Anti-LGBT hate preacher Franklin Graham (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Pro-Trump evangelical leader Franklin Graham has said people in the UK are “truthophobic” after his tour there was cancelled due to his anti-LGBT+ comments.
Graham hit out at people who campaigned to have him banned from preaching in venues across the UK in a Facebook post.
“Opposition to the Gospel shouldn’t really surprise us,” Graham wrote on Facebook. “Jesus warned that it would come.
“As you may know, my eight-city evangelistic tour across the UK has been met with resistance by LGBTQ activists who inaccurately claim that I am homophobic, Islamophobic, and say that I speak hate.”
Franklin Graham believes the people of the UK are ‘truthophobic’ and ‘free-speech-ophobic.’
He continued: “Anyone who knows me or has heard me speak knows that this really isn’t true – but, I DO preach the TRUTH of the Gospel. Could it be, rather, that these folks are truthophobic or free-speech-ophobic?”
He added: “This is really a fight for truth, and the Gospel is what is really being ‘banned’ from these venues. It really boils down to the fact that they disagree with the message.”
Could it be, rather, that these folks are truthophobic or free-speech-ophobic?
Graham’s tour,which was scheduled to feature a series of messages form the Bible and concerts that impart biblical principles, was set to begin in May.
But convention centres dotting the UK pulled out the evangelist’s from its calendars, with many of the events set to overlap with the nation’s Pride Month celebrations.
One venue cited the Christian’s views as “incompatible” in a statement.
Venues in the UK pulled out over his past anti-LGBT+ remarks.
The Utilita Arena in Newcastle was the final venue to announce it had axed the preacher, following the lead of venues in Birmingham, Newport, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Liverpool.
A London date, also planned, never even secured a venue.
The religious leader previously preached to millions across US stadiums in events called crusades.
In the scheduled tour, he invited the queer community to attend for spiritual guidance, but enforced his stance that homosexuality is a sin.
Since then, Graham has sought to play down his long record of anti-LGBT+ hatred as he prepares to head to the UK for a controversial trip during Pride Month, claiming that he preaches “love” in a letter to the LGBT+ community.
However, it didn’t take long for the mask to slip – and Graham is already back to praising claims that gay weddings will lead to homelessness and “fatherless children".
To the surprise of nobody, Franklin Graham is back to hating on gay people, after denying he’s a hate preacher
NICK DUFFY FEBRUARY 17, 2020
Franklin Graham takes the stage at a Trump rally (Photo by Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)
Fresh from his emphatic denials that he is an anti-LGBT+ hate preacher, Franklin Graham is back at work targeting gay people.
The pro-Trump evangelical leader has sought to play down his long record of anti-LGBT+ hatred as he prepares to head to the UK for a controversial trip during Pride Month, claiming that he preaches “love” in a letter to the LGBT+ community.
However, it didn’t take long for the mask to slip – and Graham is already back to praising claims that gay weddings will lead to homelessness and “fatherless children”.
He spoke out in support of reverend Robert Grant Jr, who delivered an anti-LGBT+ sermon to the Virginia House of Delegates last week.
Preacher claims gay weddings lead to homelessness and fatherless children.
Grant Jr, who had been invited by a Republican lawmaker to deliver an invocation, told the chamber: “I pray that we do not provoke God’s anger by making laws that can destroy the fabric of this great state. Please do not provoke his anger and bring wrath upon this state by what you create as law.”
He continued: “I pray that this chamber will uphold the Virginia family, that the bills and laws being passed will always protect the Biblical traditional marriage as God instructed the first man and the first woman in the Bible.
“That the two shall be one flesh, that a man and the woman shall be fruitful and multiply. We should never rewrite what God has declared, it’s not yours to change or alter.
“Marriage is to join a biological male and a biological female in holy matrimony, not to provoke the Almighty God.
“Without laws to protect traditional marriage, Virginia will be reduced to increased fatherless children and welfare victims and homelessness, a tax burden to us all.”
The prayer faced heckles from pro-LGBT Democrats present, with one delegate yelling: “Is this a prayer or a sermon?”
The House of Delegates speaker then brought the speech to an abrupt end
Franklin Graham praises anti-LGBT+ sermon.
Weighing in on the anti-LGBT_ sermon on Facebook, Graham said he “loves” the preacher – though presumably not in the way that makes God so angry.
Anti-LGBT hate preacher Franklin Graham (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
He wrote: “Here’s a guy who’s got guts for Jesus. Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates treated this African American pastor with contempt.
“Reverend Dr Robert M Grant Jr was invited to pray and he took a stand for life, marriage, and biblical principles. He was heckled by some, some walked out, and then he was cut off by the gavel of the Democratic Speaker of the House.
“They didn’t want to hear the truth. But what Pastor Grant said was truth. He’s right – these are crucial times. He urged lawmakers to honor God’s laws and be aware of His judgment.
“You can see what happened in the video in this news link. I just love this guy.”
Graham is known for praising Vladimir Putin’s anti-gay laws and blaming gay people for a “moral 9/11”, and has previously declared that gay people are “the enemy” of civilisation.
He wrote: “Here’s a guy who’s got guts for Jesus. Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates treated this African American pastor with contempt.
“Reverend Dr Robert M Grant Jr was invited to pray and he took a stand for life, marriage, and biblical principles. He was heckled by some, some walked out, and then he was cut off by the gavel of the Democratic Speaker of the House.
“They didn’t want to hear the truth. But what Pastor Grant said was truth. He’s right – these are crucial times. He urged lawmakers to honor God’s laws and be aware of His judgment.
“You can see what happened in the video in this news link. I just love this guy.”
Graham is known for praising Vladimir Putin’s anti-gay laws and blaming gay people for a “moral 9/11”, and has previously declared that gay people are “the enemy” of civilisation.
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