During an appearance on Fox News,
social conservative Franklin Graham, a vocal supporter of President
Donald Trump, denied he's homophobic.
Graham has been criticized for forcing
workers and volunteers at the makeshift field hospital his non-profit
Samaritan's Purse has set up in New York's Central Park to sign a
statement of faith which denies the existence of transgender people,
rejects same-sex marriage, and states that the “unrighteous” will
go to hell. The field hospital is treating victims of the coronavirus
pandemic as New York City hospitals reach capacity.
Appearing on The Ingraham Angle,
host Laura Ingraham asked with an incredulous look on her face, “Why
are you being attacked for building a field hospital? What's going
on?”
“We have a statement of faith,
Laura,” Graham answered. “We believe that marriage is between a
man and a woman. And that’s – that goes back to the beginning of
time to the first man and woman that God created. And this is our
standard, and so for people that we hire – we are a Christian
organization.”
“We are a religious organization, so
we want to hire people of like mind, and we have a statement of faith
that we require our employees to sign. And in that is ‘a marriage
is between a man and a woman’ and this is very offensive to some
people and the gay community.”
(Related: Franklin
Graham prepared to have his head “chopped off” for opposing gay
rights.)
“And listen, I’m not homophobic,
and I’m certainly not going around bashing people because they may
be homosexual. I believe that God loves all of us. He created us all,
but we also are sinners, and our sins separate us from God. And I
want people to know how they can have a relationship with God, and
that’s through faith in his son Jesus Christ.”
“So, I don’t bash homosexuals. I
want homosexuals to know the truth, that God does love them,” he
added.
Graham, though, is vocally opposed to
LGBT rights. Last year, he criticized
former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg for being gay, saying
that he should repent. He has said that bathroom
bills are needed to protect children and women from people who
identify as transgender. And he has praised
Russian President Vladimir Putin for signing a law that prohibits
“gay propaganda,” saying that it protects children from being
exploited by the “gay and lesbian agenda.”
(Related: Franklin
Graham's UK tour in doubt as venues cancel over preacher's anti-LGBT
views.)