Prominent evangelist Billy Graham has taken out full-page ads in support of North Carolina’s anti-gay Amendment One. The ads will run in 14 newspapers over the weekend, in advance of the vote on May 8.
“At 93, I never thought we would have to debate the definition of marriage,” says the ad, allegedly written by Graham but probably penned by one of his underlings. “The Bible is clear—God’s definition of marriage is between a man and a woman. I want to urge my fellow North Carolinians to vote FOR the marriage amendment on Tuesday, May 8.”
For a Christian guy who’s been advisor to a number of presidents and usually not taken strong stances on political issues, this seems a bit strange for Graham. Could it be that one of his advisors is using Graham’s clout to influence a ballot initiative he’d usually not speak on?
hunnylvr
Honestly, who gives a shit. This guy is so old, he can fart dust. The people he will “reach” already have their minds made up anyway
delurker=a-hole
Graham, and his pseudo-christian ilk are just more rotten logs that will someday be heaped upon perdition’s fire; they have certainly earned their place in Hell. I guess he must think that “Gawd’s in the mix” on heterosexual-only marriage too — like our current homophobic bigoted president, Obama, who is still “evolving” on equal rights for ALL Americans.
Marriage Equality
someone needs to push his wheelchair down a flight of stairs!
Ron Jackson
Wow, I actually thought he was dead. “Religion is a crutch for the feeble minded”…Jesse Ventura.
cam
Funny how God and Jesus didn’t speak about gays, but DID speak out about divorce….and yet I don’t see Good Old Billy running ads trying to outlaw divorce.
Just another old bigot trying to use religion to support his bigotry, nothing new to see here.
Ann Mason
I haven’t heard anything about Billy Graham making recent public appearances. Now that he’s older, we should be suspicious of statements which might be made on his behalf by others. This has nothing to do with Billy Graham personally, or religion or politics. It’s about refusing to be gullible. His ministry has influence with the public, and if he’s ill then there’s opportunity for others to mislead Rev. Graham’s followers.
We must engage our critical thinking skills each time we read a news story because many people may be involved in reporting the information.
jj
the world will be a much better place when that generation dies off…
xmikey97
I respect all the work that Mr Graham has done to convert people to Christian but I wantt to proclaim that I am a born again gay christian attending a gay christian church and I was born gay and GOD LOVES ME.
btseven
Just fuckin die you religious whore!
Scott Rose
Don’t for a second believe that a Billy Graham type in Nazi Germany wouldn’t be pleased as punch to go right along with throwing Jews and gays into ovens. How do you think it happened?
codyj
I saw him at the ‘garden’ (Madison sq) mid 60s, he was NEVER ‘anti-anything”..his right wing fundie anti gay SON is clearly “in charge” here…sadly taking advantage of his 93 yr old father, to ‘push’ his hatred and ignorance…no one is perfect, but i always enjoyed Billys sermons,no matter what…and I believe,… as ‘Bogart (Humph) said to his wife Lauren (Bacall) listen ,Babe, for me..when its ‘over’ …its OVER ,lol
CBRad
@codyj: I agree that it’s definitely Franklin Graham behind this.
Kev C
I thought Billy Graham was married to Jesus. This is the man who introduced the phrase “personal relationship with Jesus” to America.
CBRad
@Scott Rose: That’s too hard to say. Maybe Billy Graham would have been one of the many religious types the Nazis would have thrown right into a concentration camp.
yaoming
The guy’s probably legally incompetent and rotten [email protected]@rd son Franklin is responsible for this.
Robert Abrami
I agree that his son Franklin is the author of the ad but he must have shown it to The Reverend and it’s disgusting. When will these right wing misfits just leave it all alone, live what’s left of their lives, and give the rest of us a break?
Chris
The Bible makes it clear that marriage is between one man and one to seven hundred women. And if a man dies childless, his brother inherits his wife. And celibacy is best, marriage is okay, and sleeping with (female) prostitutes is permissible but bad because you don’t know who else has been there.
I don’t really care what the old guy thinks, but I can’t come up with any reason why he’d care about other people’s marriages.
Drew
I agree with post #1.
Aussie Col
Interesting…I do have a personal relationship with the AUTHENTIC Jesus… His teachings included that of leaving judgement to God alone; he was also not very enamoured with public piety which; we call evangelism these days, and he advocated private, wordless prayer.
Why does Billy Graham feel that he knows better than Jesus with regard to God’s wishes. The Book of Samuel also lets us know that God does not see as man sees; He does not judge your deeds, but looks into your heart.
I am not going to judge Billy, but I do see a disconnect in his words and the teachings of Jesus.
JON
Fuck Him! Oh no…did I say that out loud?!?
R.A.
@CBRad:
Actually, Billy Graham is typical of the Christian leaders who welcomed Hitler with open arms.
B
No. 6 · Ann Mason · Member wrote, “I haven’t heard anything about Billy Graham making recent public appearances. Now that he’s older, we should be suspicious of statements which might be made on his behalf by others.”
The lack of public appearances is not surprising – he has Parkinson’s disease, and substantial loss of both hearing and vision, with a number of other medical problems. There are no reports yet of Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Graham apparently refused to join Falwell’s “Moral Majority”, claiming evangelists should not be identified with particular candidates or political parties. He’s a registered Democrat but supported Nixon.
The Wikipedia article on Graham quoted Harry Truman as saying, “But now we’ve got just this one evangelist, this Billy Graham, and he’s gone off the beam. He’s…well, I hadn’t ought to say this, but he’s one of those counterfeits I was telling you about. He claims he’s a friend of all the Presidents, but he was never a friend of mine when I was President. I just don’t go for people like that. All he’s interested in is getting his name in the paper.”
Truman didn’t mince words. There’s a story about Harry Truman campaigning by saying that he used to be a farmer and knew that farming was manure, manure, and more manure. Someone took his wife aside and said, “Beth, can’t you get him to say ‘fertilizer’?” Beth replied, “You don’t know how long it took me to get him to say ‘manure’!”
Macmantoo
The “Amendment One” is supported also by the Neo-Nazi party. I do hope the blacks know who they’re backing. Guess we know who supports who now. We have the right Christians, the black Christians, the Neo Nazi party, the Republican Party and the list of haters just goes on and on and on.
abel
He’s every bit as attractive as Pope Benedict, isn’t he? Two awful old bigots, determined to do the most damage possible to gays everywhere. I’m pushing 70, but I can safely say, gays will be a lot better off when my generation and the older one is pushing up daisies.
But Billy should look to his own house. His conniving, grifter son Franklin is destroying the Graham legacy as fast as he can, while his daughter Gigi is destroying marriages as fast as she can, apparently.
Richard
Marriage between one man and one woman? Let’s see . . . where does it say that in the Bible? I don’t believe I’ve ever read that in the King James version . . . oh, Billy must mean the new, updated right-wing nut job Bible.
BG most certainly did NOT author this message of hate. It’s his right-wing nut job son Franklin and his right-wing nut job friends the Dobson lunatics (the ones that pushed that weakling Bush into trying to pass a constitutional amendment against gay marriage — I’ll never forget it, “The President is spending the day praying in private with Mrs. Dobson…”).
If you don’t know the Truth . . . and if you realize that the Truth is not on your side . . . then make up the Truth and pass it as quickly and digestibly as possible to the gullible.
CBRad
@Macmantoo: It’s called the Strange Bedfellows syndrome. When disparate (often mutually-antogonistic) groups join together because they have a certain goal in common.
Ogre Magi
Yuck! I hate christians!
comus
I can’t believe some of you queens are defending the Hillbilly Pope.
Jeremy
I agree with those who say that Billy Graham isn’t behind this. This message is uncharacteristically snide in its wording, and it’s an oddly strong political statement from someone who rarely dabbles in that territory.
Danny
Sadly the good religious people on the planet who uphold human rights are outnumbered by the corrupt hypocritical religious people who violate human rights. Billy Graham is also lying when he claims he never thought they’d discuss the definition of marriage – he is 93 years old and was alive when women were still considered property without the right to vote, when interracial marriage was illegal, when wives could be raped by their husbands with impunity, when divorce was illegal, and more. He is bearing false witness and it shows how far he has become corrupted and un-Christ like. When he passes, his legacy will be that of a bigot.
hf2hvit
Those old fucks never die…god doesn’t want him and the devil won’t take him
Danny
Also, the bible he is quoting which is filled with god-blessed polygamy demands genocide against rival tribes. That is pure evil.
1equalityUSA
“I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” –Gandhi
1equalityUSA
Christ spoke a great deal about adultery. Even the 10 commandments included adultery. Why is not a huge ad being taken out for this? Divorce was spoken of by Christ and yet, gays were NEVER mentioned. Why is not a huge ad being taken out for this? Are gays an easy target for these bastards?
CarnacTheMagnificent
I personally love this heartwarming story that Billy Graham, in that wonderfully-mellifluous voice of his, is fond of telling his flock… “People ask me why I wear $2000 suits …I tell them: They falleth down from Heaven, and I putteth them on!” This man has given me so much inight & joy over the years.
Wait! What could I possibly be saying? Billy Graham has always been a self-serving, pompous, hateful, moronic windbag. Why can’t this f*cking freak just go ahead and die already! …more proof that only the good die young.
Hmmmm
I agree with No. 2. This is what happens when “Gawd’s in the mix…”. Hmmmm, I wonder who said that?
jason
I’m disappointed in Billy Graham. Doesn’t he realize that our understanding of human sexuality has changed in the last 60 years? He’s stuck in the 1950’s with views that are not just dated but downright dangerous.
What does Graham think about slavery, which is condoned by the Bible? The submission of women towards men is another Biblical edict. Where’s Graham on this?
R.A.
@Macmantoo:
It’s not race – it’s religion.
Slave owners did not allow blacks to be taught anything other than Southern Baptist or Southern Methodist because both religions endorsed slavery.
As a result of being disproportionately evangelical, church-going blacks are disproportionately anti-gay. They’re stuck with the same awful cracker religion, but with better music.
Paul Trevor Bale
When are these so called Christians going to realise that they are not quoting Christian beliefs but outdated Old Testament nonsense that is in fact pure Judaism? Out of date when they say Jesus walked the earth, and discounted by him, according to their own Gospels, what possible relevance do they have in the 21st century? Answer. NONE.
Frank
@Paul Trevor Bale: FYI….Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements ordain gay and lesbian rabbis…check your facts, and connect your brain to your tongue before speaking.
In regards to Bill Graham… IDGAF
Joseph
The wife of the senator who wrote the amendment stated that it was written to “preserve the caucasian race.” Naturally Billy Graham would be for it.
Mitch
@Ron Jackson: God doesn’t want him in heaven, and Satan doesn’t want him in hell.
FunMe
I will believe it when he gets on stage and states his belief AND allows reporters, including those from the GLBT press, to question him.
Otherwise, it only means someone else is putting words in his mouth.
The worse part of all this is having a “man of God” and others spill out so much HATE for something that has NOTHING to do with their lives.
wayne
@Scott Rose: In fact, Billy Graham told Richard Nixon that the Jewish “stranglehold” on the media was ruining the country. He wanted Nixon to do something about it in his second term. HR Haldeman wrote about Graham’s anti-Semitic White House rant in his memoirs, and when they were published Graham denied making them. But a few years later we got to hear the Jew-bashing comments from Graham that he denied saying. Billy Graham is a liar and bigot.
comus
@wayne: Yup. And the dizzy queen apologists here lamenting that the sweet Hillbilly Pope they know and love wouldn’t say this are patently FOS.
B
No. 16 · Robert Abrami wrote, “I agree that his son Franklin is the author of the ad but he must have shown it to The Reverend and it’s disgusting.”
A substantial loss in hearing and vision in recent years might make anything shown to “The Reverend” problematic. Check the fine print on the ad – was it from Graham personally or from the organization named after him? (Note – the ad is coming out over the weekend, so at this point that information is not easily found.)
Sean Martin
Sometimes they just make it way too damn easy…
http://docandraider.com/2012/05/04/sometimes-they-just-make-it-too-easy/
TH
If this is the case, why the hell is Queerty accepting advertising dollars from Billy Graham’s Church? Check out the upper right corner of the home page — what’s up, Queerty?
Sean Martin
TH: it’s not an ad that Queerty has put there; it’s a new marketing thing on the net where topics “follow” you around. You read about something, and the advertising machine, thinking you’re interested, finds an ad and puts it up for your “enjoyment”. I’ve been followed around for weeks by the bunch that want to ban gay marriage in North Carolina: their ads are showing up *everywhere* I go — YouTube, Yahoo, even here. Queerty has no control over it.
Hephaestion
When Billy Graham dies, Jesus will give him an earfull. He has done more harm than good in his lifetime trying to pretend to know what God thinks. What a blithering idiot Graham is, and his son is worse.
1equalityUSA
Sean Martin–Thanks for the explanation about the ads in the column. I wondered the same thing.
jack jett
spit fuck the old man in his dried up asshole.
TH
@Sean Martin — hey, thanks — that was very useful. Although it’s really #@%!# up that the interweb can do this. I suppose there is irony in this …..
Queer Supremacist
Just die already, you fucking heretic.
B
Amendment One states, “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.” That covers not only same-sex marriages (which would not be valid or recognized) but also civil unions and domestic partnerships. It might even be interpreted to mean that the state would not consider a contract drawn between two men or two women to be valid if the contract provided obligations similar to marriage.
Graham and the others should be asked to explain how they can possibly support that.
hatespeechisnotthegospel
@xmikey97: /Why in the world would you respect this man for converting millions into a camp (evangelical Christians) that systematically works to deny you your rights? Get some pride man, and stop giving this man and other homophobes a pass!