North Carolina's Mark Robinson and Franklin Graham
Franklin Graham and (inset), Mark Robinson (Photo: Cornstalker, via CC-by-4.0/Facebook)

Preacher Franklin Graham has praised North Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor, Mark Robinson, for “having the guts to stand up and tell the truth.”

Robinson made headlines after a speech he gave back in June was picked up by news outlets last week.

Robinson, 53, was speaking in June at Asbury Baptist Church in Seagrove. Among other things, he took aim at what kids are being taught about in schools.

“There is no reason anybody, anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, or any of that filth,” Robinson said to applause from the congregation.

“And yes, I called it filth. And if you don’t like it that I called it filth, come see me about it.”

Related: North Carolina’s Lt. Gov. calls homosexuality “filth”, says guns are gift from God

The comments prompted calls from some fellow lawmakers that Robinson, who took office earlier this year, resign.

Yesterday, on his Facebook page, Graham stood by Robinson.

“Mark Robinson, the Lt. Governor of NC, is coming under fire for his strong stand against teaching transgenderism and homosexuality in our schools. Democrats, of course, are calling for his resignation. The comments that the woke cancel culture are so upset about were made personally when he was speaking at a church on a weekend. He called these topics being pushed on students ‘filth’.”

“Lt. Gov. Robinson said, ‘To me, it is against the tenets of my religion. But we do not live in a theocracy, and I do not have the right to tell anyone what they practice in their home.’ Teaching about those issues in public schools, however, ‘is absolutely off-limits,’ he said.

“He added, ‘Those are adult topics that should stay in an adult place. They have no business around children. Homosexuality is not a culture. Homosexuality is a sexual preference, and sexual preferences, I believe, do not need to be discussed in our schools.’ I totally agree.

“The Lt. Governor said the threats and outcry are part of a strategy of intimidation to try to get people to not speak out about their own beliefs on these topics, and he is right. Thank you Mark Robinson for having the guts to stand up and tell the truth. God bless you!”

Related: Franklin Graham says celebrating Pride Month is like celebrating murder

Graham’s wording could be taken to suggest Robinson was calling it “filth” to push these topics on to children. As you can see from Robinson’s own speech, he was labeling transsexuality and homosexuality as “filth.”
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Robinson himself has called the outcry over his comments, “an effort again to intimidate voices on the right into silence … it’s just another effort to intimate me and other parents from speaking out on these issues. I can assure you, it’s not going to happen.”

Responding to the accusation that he used hate speech, Robinson told Spectrum News, “It doesn’t matter to me what the definition of hate speech is, I said what I said and I believe what I said, and many of the people across this state feel the exact same way … we do not need these issues talked to our children against the will of their parents.

“I do not intend to resign. In fact, I intend to double down on my efforts against these things that are going on in our classrooms. Those folks can continue to call for my resignation but that is not going to happen.”

Robinson reiterated that message on his own Facebook page over the weekend.

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