Evangelist Franklin Graham believes
that the right president could overturn the Supreme Court's ruling
striking down gay marriage bans in all 50 states.
Graham, the son of evangelist Billy
Graham and head of the Billy Graham Evangelist Association,
incorrectly stated during an interview with AL.com that opponents of
marriage equality have won at the ballot box in every state where
it's been put up for a vote.
“The Supreme Court has no authority
to do it,” Graham said of the high court's decision. “They have
no authority to change what God established as marriage between a man
and a woman. Who are these nine men and women to change that? The
government went around the people. The gays and lesbians have lost
in every state where it's been put up for a vote. They have these
very liberal judges who have overruled the people. I think people
are fed up with these judges taking the decision away from the
people. We're going to have to live with it for awhile.”
Of course, that's not the case. Eleven
states adopted marriage equality either legislatively or through the
ballot box, including Washington, Vermont, Minnesota, Illinois,
Hawaii, New York, Maryland, Maine, Delaware, Rhode Island and New
Hampshire. Marriage equality also came to the District of Columbia
through the enactment of an ordinance approved by lawmakers.
“If you get the right president,”
Graham
continued, “it could be overturned. It takes leadership. It
takes a leader who gets the people behind him, to make an amendment
to the constitution. I think it could be done.”