Franklin Graham said in a Facebook post
last week that Christians opposed to LGBT rights should be respectful
to presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay mayor of South
Bend, Indiana, then added that Buttigieg was a sinner.
Graham, the son of the late
televangelist Billy Graham and a supporter of President Donald Trump,
was responding to protesters at a Buttigieg rally in Iowa. Several
protesters interrupted the candidate with shouts of “Sodom and
Gomorrah.”
(Related: New
poll has Pete Buttigieg closing in on Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders.)
“Protesters shouting ‘Sodom and
Gomorrah’ interrupted mayor and 2020 presidential candidate Pete
Buttigieg this week at a rally in Iowa,” Graham wrote. “I don’t
agree with heckling anyone – I think we should be respectful. In
response, Buttigieg made the comment, ‘the condition of my soul is
in the hands of God.’ Mayor Buttigieg is absolutely right. His
soul is in the hands of God, so is everyone’s. He also says that
he’s a Christian and wants to become the first openly gay president
in America’s history. What’s wrong with that picture?”
He continued to add that he agreed with
the heckler's message.
After quoting Leviticus 20:13, Graham,
a vocal opponent of LGBT rights, wrote: “That’s what God says and
that settles it for me. I stand with the Word of God. I care enough
about people to tell them the truth and to warn them about the
judgment to come for all sin.”
(Related: Bryan
Fischer: Pete Buttigieg's sexuality disqualifies him from being
president.)