Trump pastor: Taylor Swift is ‘pushing the LGBTQ agenda down the throats of the American people’
President Donald Trump with preacher Franklin Graham, who has hit out at Taylor Swift (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)
Trump ally and evangelical pastor Franklin Graham has hit out at Taylor Swift for supporting LGBT+ rights at the VMAs.
Graham, who preached at Trump’s inauguration in 2017, lashed out at the ‘You Need to Calm Down’ singer after she used an acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards to call for the passage of a bill that would extend civil rights laws to LGBT+ people.
In a Facebook post, Graham wrote: “Shame on Taylor Swift for using her platform to try to push the socialist left’s so-called Equality Act, which has nothing to do with equality, but is about pushing the LGBTQ agenda down the throats of the American people.
“When she received an award for her LGBTQ pride-themed music video at the MTV awards last night, she did a pitch for the Equality Act.”
In response to Taylor Swift, Trump preacher urges supporters to lobby against Equality Act.
The preacher claimed: “In addition to allowing perverted men access to women’s private spaces like dressing rooms and restrooms, and allowing biological males to take over girls’ and women’s athletic competitions, this bill would do a lot more damage.
“It’s about trying to force those of us who don’t agree to accept and approve the LGBTQ lifestyle, and I’m not going to accept that.”
The preacher urged his supporters to contact their senators and tell them to block the bill, which previously cleared the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
Franklin Graham with . President Donald Trump during a Trump rally on August 22, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Ralph Freso/Getty)
Speaking at the VMAs, Swift had explained: “In this [“You Need to Calm Down”] video, several points were made, so [fans] voting for this video means that you want a world where we’re all treated equally under the law, regardless of who we love, regardless of how we identify.
“In this video there was a petition for the Equality Act, which basically just says we all deserve equal rights under the law.
“I want to thank everyone that signed that petition because it now has half a million signatures, which is five times the amount that it would need to warrant a response from the White House.”
Her comments earned a rebuke from the White House, which dismissed calls to back the Equality Act.
Swift has also faced hostility from Fox & Friends and Trump official Kellyanne Conway.
Franklin Graham has close ties to Trump despite anti-LGBT+ record.
Franklin Graham, who heads evangelical Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse, maintains close ties with the Trump administration despite his anti-LGBT+ views.
In May, Graham was photographed posing with Mike Pence in the White House, just days after accusing gay Democrat Pete Buttigieg of “flaunting” his sexuality.
Graham has previously praised Vladimir Putin’s anti-gay laws and told crowds in Russia that homosexuals “cannot have children, they can take other people’s children”.
He has also claimed there had been a “moral 9/11” in America due to homosexuals and has declared that gay people are “the enemy” of civilisation.
