Yet another UK arena is considering cancelling an appearance by hate preacher Franklin Graham
Franklin Graham gives a blessing next to US President Donald Trump at the White House (ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Franklin Graham is facing the possibility that the first leg of his UK tour will be cancelled, as Glasgow becomes the latest city to review its plan to host him.
An event with the US hate preacher has already been cancelled in Liverpool, after the venue said his views were “incompatible with our values”.
Graham preached at Donald Trump’s inauguration, has said gay people caused a “moral 9/11” in America and has declared that gay people are “the enemy” of civilisation.
In 2016, the hate preacher accused LGBT+ activists of “trying to cram down America’s throat the lie that homosexuality is OK”, and claimed that anti-discrimination laws would mean that “your children, and your grandchildren will be at risk to sexual predators and perverts”.
Graham’s eight-day UK tour was due to start in Glasgow in May.
But following calls for Glasgow’s Hydro to cancel his appearance, the venue said: “We are aware of the recent issues surrounding this tour and will be reviewing this with our stakeholders in due course”.
Newcastle’s Utilita Arena is also facing pressure to block Graham’s rally.
Glasgow MSP Patrick Harvie said there is “nothing to review here”.
“Franklin Graham uses these tours to spread homophobia, transphobia and hate speech about immigrants,” Harvie said.
“To host him anywhere is to give a platform to hatred, but for Glasgow’s biggest publicly owned venue to do so is an offence against the values that make this city so great.
“After pressure from local LGBT+ groups, the venue in Liverpool cancelled the gig, saying Graham’s views were ‘incompatible with our values’.
“It’s time the SEC showed that level of leadership and told Graham that hate speech is not welcome here.”
Franklin Graham: ‘Not true’ that I will bring hate speech to UK.
In a statement, the evangelical preacher said it was “not true” that he was going to bring hateful speech to the UK and told British gay people to repent for their sins.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Graham sought to play down his beliefs in a “letter to the LGBTQ community in the UK” – which maintains that gay people are sinful and should repent.
He wrote: “It is said by some that I am coming to the UK to bring hateful speech to your community. This is just not true.
“I am coming to share the Gospel, which is the Good News that God loves the people of the UK, and that Jesus Christ came to this earth to save us from our sins.
“The rub, I think, comes in whether God defines homosexuality as sin. The answer is yes. But God goes even further than that, to say that we are all sinners – myself included.
“I’m not coming to the UK to speak against anybody, I’m coming to speak for everybody. The Gospel is inclusive. I’m not coming out of hate, I’m coming out of love.”
The comments mark a departure from Graham’s explicitly anti-LGBT+ messages over the past year.
