Franklin Graham, a protestant evangelist and public speaker known for his controversial views about the LGBTQ+ community, is scheduled to address the National Republican Convention in North Carolina (US) which is taking place from August 24 – 27. Graham has been referred to as a Trump fanatic and is due to speak on Thursday evening, when Donald Trump is also giving a speech. He spoke at Trump’s inauguration in 2016 and has maintained close contact with the Trump administration since then.
Earlier this year, Graham published an open letter to the LGBTQ+ community in the UK, saying that homosexuality is a sin and urging queer people to repent and build ‘the right relationship with God’, which he argued he is doing ‘out of love’. He is also widely known for his remark that gay couples are ‘taking children’ from heterosexual couples which he then described as a ‘moral 9/11’, and compared queer people to ‘drug addicts’.
Graham expressed outrage when rulings were past in early 2020 that would protect LGBTQ+ people from losing their jobs due to discrimination, saying that it was a breach of religious freedom. Despite this new legislation, there have been multiple laws implemented that threaten LGBTQ+ rights during Trump’s presidency, such as the controversial attempted ban on transgender troops in the military. In addition, a new proposal is due to heighten border control thus affecting LGBTQ+ asylum seekers.
