Facebook Apologizes To Franklin Graham For Removing Anti-Transgender Post
- By
- Carlos Santoscoy
- | January 03, 2019
Facebook has apologized to Christian conservative Franklin Graham after the site temporarily banned him over a post in which he described transgender women as men.
Facebook banned Graham, the son of the late televangelist Billy Graham and a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, for 24-hours, saying that a post he wrote in 2016 related to North Carolina's House Bill 2 violated the site's community standards on hate speech.
House Bill 2, signed by former Republican Governor Pat McCrory, blocked cities from enacting LGBT protections and prohibited transgender individuals from using the bathroom of their choice in government buildings, including schools. Passage of the bill sparked outrage, with many entertainers vowing to boycott the state, including Bruce Springsteen.
(Related: NC's Roy Cooper signs deal to repeal anti-LGBT law.)
“Bruce Springsteen, a long-time gay rights activist, has canceled his North Carolina concert,” Graham wrote in his 2016 post. “He says the NC law #HB2 to prevent men from being able to use women’s restrooms and locker rooms is going 'backwards instead of forwards.' Well, to be honest, we need to go back! Back to God. Back to respecting and honoring His commands. Back to common sense. Mr. Springsteen, a nation embracing sin and bowing at the feet of godless secularism and political correctness is not progress. I’m thankful North Carolina has a governor, Pat McCrory, and a lieutenant governor, Dan Forest, and legislators who put the safety of our women and children first! HB2 protects the safety and privacy of women and children and preserves the human rights of millions of faith-based citizens of this state.”
Appearing on Fox News' Fox and Friends, Graham discussed the incident.
“I was defending our governor and the state on HB2,” he said. “It was a good law. If you disagree with [Facebook's] position on sexual orientation, you can be classified as hate speech.”
“I accepted Facebook's apology and I appreciate them stepping up and doing that. I think it was just really a personal attack towards me,” he added. “They ought to just come up with a standard based on God's word that applies to all people everywhere.”
In a statement given to Fox News, Facebook said that it had removed the post for violating its hate speech policies. “Upon re-reviewing this content, we identified that the post does not violate our hate speech policy and has been restored,” the statement read.
(Related: Franklin Graham not afraid to have his head “chopped off” for opposing gay rights.)