Evangelist Billy Graham, one of America’s most famous preachers, has died at the age of 99. The popular minister was nicknamed “America’s Pope” due to his devoted followers, scandal-free life, and compassion for everyone.
Well, not quite everyone.
While he was known for his inclusivity during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, Graham was adamantly anti-gay.
Sure, he was a product of his times, but that’s no excuse to gloss over moments like this one, in which he responded to a gay youth that “We traffic in homosexuality at the peril of our spiritual welfare.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Read the entire exchange, which was published in the Lakeland Ledger on Nov. 20th, 1973, below:
Rob91316
The world instantly became a kinder, gentler, more beautiful place when this m****r-f****r took his last breath.
NateOcean
When the news flash came down, I had hoped it was Franklin who’d croaked, but I’ll settle for Billy.
wimbury
Absolutely on your side. Next, that vile Westboro church and Jeff Sessions?
Terry Asher
To ignore the horendous damage this old Hater has done would like ignoring the rise of Fascists in Europe or the Inquisition!
This Billy Graham, is even in Death a Model of generating Hatred on a Scale , great enough to fracture North America.
We must strive to acheive by working to introduce every Evangelist to a more Respectful IdeologicTheology as it was prior to Catholic Sexual Terrorism .
When al members of a Family Straight Gay or somewhere between were Embraced as Creations of Spirituality and Individuality.
End the Hatred, End Corruption of Conception:Live,Love,Learn,Respect,Choice,ListenWithin,by Share&Trade !
Tombear
Yes Billy is dead, thank God but his son Franklin is worse!
Josh447
Agreed. Compared to his son he was like a Mother Teresa.
o.codone
This guy represents an old-guard crusade that hasn’t been relevant for years. But, here goes the gays, ever eager to drag out the hammers and pound the life out everything Christian, even if it’s been long dead. Graham has nothing to do with everyday life today, so why are we discussing him? This anti-christian hatred only makes us look small minded and petty. And, maybe we are. Get over it gays, and STFU.
Juanjo
O screw off douche bag. Old guard? really? One need only look at the news, view social media like Youtube or Twitter to see the younger versions of Christian perversion spewing the same or worse.
Like this pos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETa_BETeLPI
aaparker
How does anti-Billy Graham sentiment equate to anti-Christian sentiment? I don’t see anything in Billy Graham’s philosophy that bears any resemblance to the teachings of Jesus. So you think gay people should just sit down and shut up when we are faced with virulent homophobia. Who do you think you are to say that?
NateOcean
Mahatma Gandhi — ‘I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.’
Polaro
@o.codone why are you here at all? Christians like you give the entire religion a bad name. So, begone, superstitious twit, you are not welcome here.
adam_stevens
Yours are not the thoughts or ideas of a serious or intelligent man.
o.codone
@ adam_stevens. Gays go to great lengths to bash anyone of faith. It is a given that any “article” on Queerty that has anything to do with faith is going to be all about ridicule and disrespect, and the comments section will be full of people like you. You forget that gays are also people of faith and politically conservative and voted for Trump. Why don’t you try to reach out and find some love instead of name calling and creating divisiveness. Your hatred is the same hatred of racists, homophobes, misogynists, and others, it’s just pointed in the direction of people of faith. But it’s just as disgusting.
ChrisK
@o.codone Maybe you should just pull your head out of your ass and look around. His own son show’s just how Ol Billy feels. Putin and Trump lovers. Also some of us prefer to deal in facts instead of made up BS.
Faith: A strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.
Brody
o. –
On the contrary, Queerty and other aggrieved liberals don’t ridicule and disrespect ALL manners of faith . . . they’re quite willing to defend and rationalize Islam and the crazy Muslims who literally want all gays to die, because . . . reasons.
o.codone
Brody, you make a good point. Muslims are accommodated, and the Christians are ridiculed. No matter that Muslims believe killing gays is justice in action.
@ChrisK. Hey boy, did you get your mother to write those two sentences for you? You must have bc I know you can’t put three words together yourself. As for the content of what your mom said, it’s the meaning of the word “apprehension” that matters. In this case it means to apprehend or understand. It doesn’t mean anxiety or angst, like your Ma thinks it does. That’s actually a good definition of faith. Thanks for posting it. BTW, you’re a fuc*king genius. So’s your Mommy.
Bob LaBlah
O, I couldn’t agree with you more. I remember my parents telling me about him, Oral Roberts, Ol’ Rev. Rex Humbard and a few others who went around yelling, screaming, putting their hands on foreheads claiming they were getting messages from god and only seconds later slamming people on the floor and ground while claiming it was the power of god that caused it. It turned out those “saved” people were relatives in on the plot to fleece the ignorant who couldn’t afford a television to entertain themselves otherwise. He was the last of that breed and I say let them all join hands as they burn in hell together.
Any of you remember this character from the 1980’s and 90’s? His character was based on those men I mentioned and it worked as in it made him rich too. lol lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g5jysAqYAs
Juanjo
Miss Drug Addict says, “Gays go to great lengths to bash anyone of faith”. No sweetums, we go after the scum spreading hatred and violence whether they are Christian, Muslim or whatever. You are just pissed we gored your ox.
Then we have the Brody Troll, trying to switch the conversation to Muslims, a point over which this troll is completely obsessed. And failing pathetically.
James
LAUGHING AT YOU.
o.codone
@Juanjo. Dude, get a new picture. Besides that, yeah, I am a drug addict, so fu cking what, not your business. And lastly, YOU are the “scum spreading hatred and violence”, it’s just that you’re victimizing Christians. The hatred you express in your post is the same hatred of bigots, homophobes, misogynists and others. I thought I already made that point.
MSchmal
Christianity, like all revealed religion, is a fraud. Don’t be so quick to take our “secular:” society for granted. Look at what is happening in Turkey. Christianity is a solid pillar of the patriarchy and must be opposed if true equality is ever to be reached. Christianity’s greatest threat is its evangelical mission. Christians don’t just strive to be “Christian”, they strive to make you one too.
chris33133
I’m not eager to drag Graham’s name through anything. But as long as people are praising him for her influence on all those Presidents and on almost single-handedly creating a movement in which religion interferes with what is supposed to be a non-sectarian form of government, I do think that I have a right (if not an obligation) to disallow such revisionist history. Bottom line: on civil rights for women and for minorities, on the anti-war movement, and on issues involving gay folk, Mr. Graham was on the wrong side of history.
matt90814
I’m sure his family is devastated by his death. Me, not so much.
alanballs
Me neither. Relieved in fact. Franklin Graham, Pat Robertson…..WHEN?
Danny595
His bigotry didn’t diminish over time. In 2012, his “ministry” took out full-page newspaper ads to support the anti-gay marriage amendment in North Carolina and then later that year to urge people to vote for Romney. I think they spent more than $1 million on those ads.
CastleSF
Despite his outdated views on gays and other social issues, he was still a very respectable man highly regarded by many people around the world. It’s true that he was not crazy about gays but after I allow myself to see the totality of a man’s life and his achievements, I still find him worthy of my respect, if not outright admiration. I don’t automatically dislike a man just because he holds opinions different from mine.
Kangol
@CastleSF, you’re clearly on here trolling. The man didn’t just “hold opinions different” from most LGBTQ, though you may have agreed with him, but he actively worked against gay people. What is wrong with people like you that you cannot grasp the difference between disagreeing and actively working to harm other people? What’s not computing?
CastleSF
@Kangol. I think you and many people like you suffer from the tunnel vision. You view everything in this life from the narrow angle of the gay issues. If someone is pro-gay, they are good guys. If they are not gay friendly, they deserve to go to hell. Well, I don’t view people that way but it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with me. If I were really mean, I’d call you a zealot but I am a civilized man taking pride in tolerance and live and let live.
aaparker
Being tolerant of the spread of virulent hatred is how evil happens.
ChrisK
Castle, we get it. Billy Cracker is a well known fraud and bigot just like you. Where do you think Jr Graham gets all this own bigotry, Trump/Putin love. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Your ass kissing is no great surprise.
http://www.newnownext.com/reverend-billy-graham-was-a-bigot-do-not-mourn-his-death/02/2018/
ChrisK
@CastleSF. Oh and btw. You’re not fooling anyone Danny595.
ChrisK
@Kangol. After reading on the other post about the Benham Brothers and CastleSF gushing about handsome and great men they are I agree with you. Girls definitely trolling.
Danny595
@CastleSF – I never said that his view on gay people was the be-all-and-end-all of how we should assess him. There are people in the world who are not pro-gay whom I still admire. We balance the good and the bad, and try to place them in the context of their generation to the extent possible. For example, that’s why we can admire Martin Luther King even though he gave some homophobic advice to a young man in a newspaper advice column in 1959 (not nearly as homophobic as BG’s response above, but still definitely not a pro-gay response).
That having been said, I don’t think BG was a great man in other respects. His homophobia was not limited to the early 1970s.
New information about LGBs did not cause him to reconsider anything. More generally, he peddled a BS religion which uses fear of eternal torture to control people during their lives. He got wealthy on the donations of the people he terrified. He engaged in brazen nepotism, creating a family empire which enriches his son and his daughter. Let him now feed the worms and fertilize the Earth!
Danny595
@Kangol – FYI, there is no such thing as “LGBTQ.”
CastleSF
@Danny. What Kangol meant to say was LGBTQIA-NB (non-binary). We have to be all-inclusive, you know….
Danny595
@CastleSF – No you bigot! You forgot the numerals and special characters. It’s LGBTTS2QIAAP+. Next month, we add cyrillic letters and Chinese hanzi! 🙂
Bob LaBlah
Lets just hope Rev. Robertson will be next and be done with it. Graham is dead and there is nothing I personally care about regarding what he did or said. By now we ALL should know what these sanctimonious multi-multi millionaires are about, money and power.
Bob LaBlah
And I forgot to add that Rev. Jerry Fallwell died broke due to bad investment advice.
Prax07
Happy that Douche is dead. If I was near where they’ll bury him I’d go take a dook on his grave.
JaredMacBride
A sexist, racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic con man is how I would describe this jabroni. An American disgrace.
Ronbo
Odd how Hitler also demonized gays and jews and blacks, opposed equal rights and opposed civil rights just like Graham. Is it OK because Graham preached for punishment in the afterlife? Was he a good Christian? Sad that I’m asking about Hitler. Both demonized segments of society with no remorse; but, with enthusiasm.
Our eternal destiny to how we treat “the least of these brothers of mine.”
randeman
When a hateful, delusional bigot dies, you should never say bad, you should always say good. Billy Graham is dead. Good.
alanballs
Can I getta AMEN?
derek mcgillicuddy
Well just think: now’s he down in Hell sipping a Mai Tai with Hitler and Gore Vidal!
ProfessorMoriarty
And you just KNOW that bitchy Gore Vidal will throw his drink in Billy’s face.
You GO, Gore!
alanballs
99 years of hate have ended. GOOD. We’re all gonna croak, some sooner, some later. Is it Franklin’s turn yet?
blackhook
Good riddance to bad trash! …this strange evangelical a-hole cozied up to the rich & powerful to further his nefariou$ %cheme$
jess_lopez
The only good thing he has ever done is dying.
Good riddance.
Notright
1973?! That’s the best you can do Queety?!
paulcasey
I wonder now he is dead if God will hold him accountable for the death and misery his words have caused gay kids I was one of them afraid I’d go to hell tormented about what my parents would say I’m still angry I missed out on loving relationship all because I believed there hate fill speeches but now I’m older in a fantastic relationships soon we will be married I let this mess up first part of my life but not the ending I found a very loving and caring partner should everyone in life be so lucky
Sam6969
paulcasey, congratulations and best wishes! 🙂
ralphb
I’m no bible scholar by any means, but even I know that the word “homosexual” was not added to the bible until 1952 (or thereabouts). That’s when the pseudo christians added it to support their obvious bigotry toward GLBTs. I’d be interested as to which passage in Paul that he was referring. And then I’d like for a knowledgeable person to give us an actual translation of the original passage.
kent5
Hi, I can help with that. He’s referring to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. The Greek word that most modern translations render as “homosexual” is actually two different Greek words corresponding to the “top” and the “bottom” roles. The first is arsenokoitai, which is a word Paul himself coined from the verse in the Old Testament book of Leviticus. It’s a portmanteau of “arsenal” which is the root for “male” and “koite” which is the word for “bed” on a sexual meaning. It’s the Greek word from which our own word “coitus” derives.
Loosely translated, Paul was saying “male-bedders”, i.e. those who bed males.
The other word is “malakos” which means something like “softy”. It’s actually still in use in modern Greek to mean “squashy” “soft”, etc. You get the picture.
kent5
Sorry about the Autocorrect mess.
The Greek word arsenokoites comes from arsen, not “arsenal”.
Also, the word for bed “koite” had a sexual meaning, not “on a sexual meaning”.
MacAdvisor
If we have to reach back to 1973, just four years after Stonewall, to find Graham saying something untoward about homosexuality, then he, like millions of other Americans, likely changed his mind.
ChrisK
in 2012, Billy Graham felt so strongly LGBT people shouldn’t be allowed to marry and to attain legal visiting rights for spouses in the hospital among other benefits, that he paid for 14 full-page ads in newspapers across North Carolina.
That May, Tar Heel voters approved Amendment 1, which prohibited marriage equality.
Brian
He’s not even in the ground yet, and you’re already rewriting history! Amazing how quick people are to lie. You don’t get to claim that he “likely” changed his mind. He was a bigot throughout his entire life.
radiooutmike
The thing that gets me is he was the “best” of them.
Hateful and scorning Christian righteousness in a pleasant package.
MinnesotaNotNice
It was truly a wonderful moment when I read the headline announcing his death! Here’s to hoping that very soon we will read about Pat Robertson’s death!
Doug
This looks and sounds like a letter from Graham or his staff, so that he could he could air his views on gay people.
Bob LaBlah
Did anyone see that episode of Young Sheldon (CBS, Thursdays) where after he spent an entire day reading the bible he told the Sunday school teacher he was starting his own religion and all out hell broke lose?
He BGB
Maybe it was that he survived 99 years but the evenin news spent way to much time on him yesterday. It sickened me. And the right talk abuoit how liberal the “mainstream” media is! I was waiting for them to mention his hateful words about AIDS. I think he said they deserved it for their sinful lifestyle but I think all evangelicals were saying that (I think he later apologized?) Frankie was a drunk drug abuser who found religion and went to the other extreme like many fearful fanatics do.
john.k
I’ve always been curious about the use of the word “homosexual” in that passage from St Paul. As far as I am aware that word was first used in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Does anyone know how earlier translations of the passage read?
GayEGO
No, science has proven there is a lot of hateful nonsense in the people written religious books, and they were not inspired by God.
kent5
You’re right to wonder. It’s actually a very interesting story. What modern translations render “homosexuals” is actually two: “malakos” and “arsenokoites”. The first word literally means something like “squishy” or “malleable” and is still used in modern Greek today. The second, Paul himself coined. There is no record of any other ancient Greek writer using it. Greeks had their own words to describe male-male eros.
To your question:
The King James Version (1611) translated these words as “effeminate” and “abusers of themselues with mankinde” (original spelling).
The very first English Bible, Wycliffe’s (1382-1395) as “lechers against kind” “they that do lechery with men”. All other English versions start from these.
The German, Luther, who worked independently of the English and their influence, came away with an interestingly different take on these words. He translated them as “Weichlinge” which literally means “softies” and “Knabenschänder” which means “boy molesters”. Indeed in other derivative German translations the first word is translated as “pleasure boys”, a concept not to far from Mohammed’s heavenly “pearl boys”. Later German translations changed this to “men molesters” and then “homosexuals”.
I personally think the traditional Spanish translation is the most literal “Los que we echan con baroness” = “those that lie with males”.
Paul coined the word from the Old Testament verse in Leviticus that prohibits “men lying with a male as with a woman”. He took the two Greek words for “male” (arsen) and “lie down” (koite, twisted to our word coitus) to make “arsenokoites”.
James
ROT IN HELL CHRIXTIAN TRASH.
TheFabulousThomasJ
The nicest thing I can say about Billy Graham is he’s God’s problem, now. IF there is a God.
GayEGO
It is amazing how some think they know God’s words etc. to describe us as abominations when they are the ones spreading hateful lies. Franklinella needs to get a grip or he will end up like his father, a homophobic monster!