Christian charity head says America will ‘pay’ after Joe Biden officiates first same-sex wedding

An adamantly homophobic pastor Franklin Graham has suggested the US will “pay” after Vice President Joe Biden obtained a temporary marriage licence in order to marry two longtime White House employees.

Vice President Joe Biden presided over his first wedding ceremony earlier this week, which saw him officiating the marriage of two longtime gay White House employees.

Mr Biden posted a photo of the ceremony on Twitter, with the message: “Proud to marry Brian and Joe at my house. Couldn’t be happier, two longtime White House staffers, two great guys.”

His wife Jill later echoed his sentiments, retweeting the photo with caption, “Love is love!”

But in a Facebook post yesterday, Franklin Graham suggested the US would “pay” for Biden’s actions.

He wrote: “Another first for America that we should not be proud of — the vice president of the United States presiding over a same-sex wedding. Vice President Joe Biden had to get a special temporary ‘certification’ from the District of Columbia to perform the gay wedding of two White House aides.”

“Sadly, as a nation we have a reputation for celebrating what God has defined as sin, and there will be a price to pay,” said the reverend. “Our country may have made same-sex marriage legal in the eyes of man, but that doesn’t make it right in the eyes of God… He is clear in His Word that marriage is between a man and a woman and that homosexuality is wrong.”

He added, “God is rich in mercy, but His Word also warns us: ‘Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers…given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him’ (Isaiah 1:4).”

Nonetheless, the happy couple – Brian Mosteller and Joe Mahshie, who work closely with President Obama and his family – wed in an intimate ceremony attended by their families in Mr Biden’s residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory, CNN reports.

The grooms asked Mr Biden to preside over the ceremony at his Washington DC residence and he happily obliged, obtaining a temporary certificate from the District of Columbia in order to perform the wedding.

A long-time supporter of LGBT rights, the VP has won acclaim during his time in the White House for his willingness to champion equality issues – even by stepping on the toes of President Obama.

Graham has previously accused Obama of spreading ‘immorality’ and ‘sin’, while praising Russia’s Vladimir Putin for instituting a ban on ‘gay propaganda’.

In a recent interview with a Russian newspaper, Graham praised Vladimir Putin’s support for anti-gay laws – and claimed that homosexuals “take people’s children”.

But he is not the only member of his family to attack LGBT people. Last week, it was reported that his sister, Anne Graham, claimed 9/11 happened because of LGBT “sin”.

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