Evangelical preacher Franklin Graham was not among those welcoming Monday’s US Supreme Court ruling on LGBTQ employment rights.
In case you missed it, the court ruled by 6-3 that Title VII in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covered sexuality and gender identity. In short, you cannot be fired simply for being gay or trans.
Related: Supreme Court rules in favor of LGBTQ rights in landmark decision
Graham, told the New York Times, “No question it is going to make it harder to defend our religious freedom, as far as an organization being able to hire people of like mind. I find this to be a very sad day. I don’t know how this is going to protect us.”
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In a lengthy Facebook post, which has prompted more than 43k comments, Graham elaborated further.
“Today the U.S. Supreme Court enacted a new law that adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the 1964 Civil Rights Act as “protected classes” … I believe this decision erodes religious freedoms across this country.
“People of sincere faith who stand on God’s Word as their foundation for life should never be forced by the government to compromise their religious beliefs. Christian organizations should never be forced to hire people who do not align with their biblical beliefs and should not be prevented from terminating a person whose lifestyle and beliefs undermine the ministry’s purpose and goals.”
Graham is known for not welcoming LGBTQ employees. A temporary field hospital his organization, Samaritan’s Purse, recently oversaw in New York City’s Central Park to help cope with COVID-19 patients asked staff to sign a “Statement of Faith.” This included agreeing with the statement, “we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female.”
“As a Bible-believing follower of Jesus Christ, my rights should be protected,” Graham continued on Facebook. “Even if my sincerely held religious beliefs might be the minority, I still have a right to hold them. The same holds true for a Christian organization. These are the freedoms our nation was founded on.”
“The Supreme Court does not override and will never overturn the Word of God. One day we will all have to stand before God, the Righteous Judge, whose decisions are not based on politics or the whims of culture. His laws are true and are the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
Monday’s ruling was authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch. The conservative Trump appointee was among the judges who agreed that existing civil rights protections extended to gay and trans people. The three SCOTUS judges to vote against the ruling were Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh.
Related: Right-wingers are freaking out over today’s landmark Supreme Court ruling
Graham’s comments overlook the fact that in his Supreme Court ruling, Gorsuch notes, “worries about how Title VII may intersect with religious liberties are nothing new; they even predate the statute’s passage. As a result of its deliberations in adopting the law, Congress included an express statutory exception for religious organizations.”
This allows some religious organizations (i.e churches, faith schools, etc) to still claim exemptions, but not businesses such as those included in the cases brought before the court. The validity of these exemptions will likely be explored in future court cases.
Jared MacBride
Franklin Graham is the world’s moral compass, but not in the way he thinks. His skewed idea of morality is wrong 100% of the time.
WillParkinson
Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate….
Jim
Franklin is sooooo unfamiliar with the Nazarene
Harley
The God of the Bible also allows slavery, including selling your own daughter as a sex slave (Exodus 21:1-11), child abuse (Judges 11:29-40 & Isaiah 13:16), and bashing babies against rocks (Hosea 13:16 & Psalms 137:9). This type of criminal behavior should shock any moral person.
My2CentsWorth
Wonder if Frank Graham ever commented on these verses.
Gay Thomas
Billy Graham would throat-punch and then disown his evil, soulless son.
msfrost
From whom do you think, he learned it?
My2CentsWorth
My impression of Billy Graham was that he was basically a decent person. I grew (or aged) to form opinions that were different than his fundamentalist approach to religion.
pavel20
Totally agree. No, this is not the kind of person that Billy Graham would have raised his son to be.
Jared MacBride
Billy Graham was FAR from a decent person. Taped conversations with then President Nixon showed him for the first class bigot he was. Franklin is a bad apple that didn’t fall far from the tree.
Chrisk
“These are the freedoms our nation was founded on.”
The POS needs to brush up on what the Constitution says. This nation was founded on people escaping shitheads like you Graham.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
Virpilosus
ANYONE who listens to or follows Graham is just an A-hole, so ignore him and them.
Cam
Graham is just proof that his version of Christianity is only about bigotry and hate to raise money. Nothing else.
kevininbuffalo
The day Franklin Graham was born was “a very sad day”.
Mister P
He has to be really twisted to think that it is Christian to deny people a job and a place to live.
Kangol2
Crappy theocrat Franklin Graham says what?
zealot
Matthew 19:24: “And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.” That is…if you actually believe in this sort of thing.
My2CentsWorth
Zealot, Frank Graham doesn’t believe Matthew 19:24. He is a rich person. Nor, is he about to give his money to the poor. His state has a lot of people just making it and none of them should believe that Frank is going to follow the command of the verse that tells the rich to give their wealth tot he poor. He seems to be committed to money. His mother wanted to be buried on the property of her home in Mount Treat (sp?). Frank realized that her burial in the amusement park in Charlotte would be more financial beneficial. I think that there was a disagreement between Frank and some of his siblings over where she should be buried. Frank won out and she is in Charlotte.
I wish that I could be able to understand why not discriminating against a group of people would bring about the end of religious freedom. It did not in the past when jim crow racism was made illegal (but not completedly eliminated). One of the excuses for resisting integration was that it would take away freedoms and make the south a communist dominated place.
Josh in OR
Franklin Graham: less respectable than a prolapsed anus, and twice as unattractive!
Den
“Even if my sincerely held religious beliefs might be the minority, I still have a right to hold them. The same holds true for a Christian organization. These are the freedoms our nation was founded on.”
“The Supreme Court does not override and will never overturn the Word of God. One day we will all have to stand before God, the Righteous Judge, whose decisions are not based on politics or the whims of culture. His laws are true and are the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
He does not seem to understand that HOLDING specific beliefs is one thing, and being given license to act on them in opposition to law is quite another. There is no freedom to discriminate regardless of how sincere his desire is to do it. And as far as the “word of God” goes, it is not law in a secular country.
FridM
I heard that the Gay Mafia are gunning for him! You reap what you sow…
Invader7
Just DIE Franklin. You’re NOT a man of gawd. You’re a FRAUD like ALL of the holy rollers !! Complete 100% FRAUDS,LIARS and totally corrupt and NO one believes the crap that you spew out of your mouth !!