Franklin Graham tells UK LGBTQ community he is not bringing a ‘hateful’ message by Staff writer for Christian Today
Franklin Graham has invited the UK LGBTQ community to come and hear him preach as he denied that he was bringing a “hateful” message to the country in an upcoming tour.
Liverpool ACC has cancelled his forthcoming tour stop and London’s O2 told Newsweek that it would not host his event.
A spokesperson for the ACC said it had been “made aware of a number of statements” by Graham “which we consider to be incompatible with our values.”
Now is your chance to support Gospel News Network.
We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
“In light of this, we can no longer reconcile the balance between freedom of speech and the divisive impact this event is having in our city,” the spokesperson told the BBC in a statement.
They added: “We have informed the organizers of the event that the booking will no longer be fulfilled.”
A representative for the O2 told
Newsweek that it had never entered into an agreement with Graham to host an event there.
A petition calling on the O2 to refuse to host Graham’s London event has been signed by over 8,000 people.
The creator of the petition claimed that Graham “travels around the world telling tens of thousands of people that Satan runs the LGBT+ movement”.
People were invited to sign the petition to “send a clear message to this US hate monger that he is not welcome in London or the UK.”
“He persuades audiences that LGBT+ people don’t deserve to have families,” they said.
“He stands on stages in huge arenas warning people of the consequences of being gay, threatening impressionable young people with the ‘flames of hell’.
“In short, he spends a lot of time and money telling the world that our love is a sin and encouraging those who want to hurt us.”
