Christian conservative Franklin Graham
has said that he will sue venues in the UK after they canceled on his
upcoming tour.
Graham, a vocal opponent of LGBT rights
and strong supporter of President Donald Trump, is organizing a June
preaching tour in the UK.
(Related: Franklin
Graham: Pete Buttigieg faces eternal damnation for “flaunting
homosexuality.”)
LGBT activists called on the venues to
cancel and, according to UK LGBT blog PinkNews, all of them
have pulled out.
“[E]very single venue booked for the
eight-date tour has now canceled, after being made aware of
(Graham's) extreme anti-LGBT views,” the
outlet reported.
Northern Pride was among the groups
calling for the venues to withdraw.
“We believe an event of this kind
with anti-LGBT+ rhetoric has no place in a tolerant and accepting
city like Newcastle, which is gearing up to welcome tens of thousands
of people for UK Pride this summer,” the group said in a statement.
Graham, son of the late preacher Billy
Graham, tweeted that the tour will take place and a spokesperson said
that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will pursue legal
action against the venues.
“Since the original venues have
broken our legal contract with them, we are pursuing appropriate
actions based on grounds of religious discrimination and freedom of
speech,” a spokesperson told CBN.
(Related: Franklin
Graham suggests Rosie O'Donnell is going to hell.)