A bevy of anti-LGBT religious leaders
will participate in Donald Trump's presidential inauguration.
According to a press release issued
Wednesday, Franklin Graham and New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan are
set to speak at next month's ceremony.
Dolan and Graham will offer readings
and prayers. Dolan is scheduled to deliver the opening prayer, or
invocation, while Graham will give the closing prayer, or
benediction.
Others on the list include Bishop Wayne
T. Jackson of Great Faith Ministries International and Pastor Paula
White of New Destiny Christian Center, both of whom are vocal
opponents of LGBT rights.
Graham, the son of evangelist Billy
Graham and head of the Billy Graham Evangelist Association, is an
outspoken opponent of LGBT rights. At a rally earlier this year, he
called same-sex
marriage “the great sin.” Graham, who supported Trump during
the campaign, has often criticized President Barack Obama's support
for LGBT rights, going so far as blaming
the Syrian refugee crisis on Obama's support for such rights.
(Related: Franklin
Graham not afraid to have his head “chopped off” for opposing gay
rights.)
Dolan used his position as president of
the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to call on
Roman Catholics to support measures limiting marriage to heterosexual
couples. Bishop Salvatore Cordileone was called to head the USCCB's
Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. In a 2013
interview, Cordileone
linked a rise in poverty to marriage equality.
Dolan
called same-sex marriage “Orwellian social engineering” as
New York lawmakers debated a marriage equality bill which eventually
became law. He later apologized, saying
that he loves the gay community.