Tory minister Jacob Rees-Mogg backs anti-gay hate preacher Franklin Graham
Leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Jacob Rees-Mogg, a cabinet minister and close ally of Boris Johnson, has expressed his support for hate preacher Franklin Graham, who has claimed homosexuals “take other people’s children”.
The leader of the House of Commons criticised venues that have declined to host Graham for a planned tour of the UK during Pride Month.
Jacob Rees-Mogg attacks ‘intolerance’ towards preacher who blamed gays for ‘moral 9/11’.
Speaking in parliament on February 13, Rees-Mogg said of the decisions to not host Graham: “No-platforming is a particularly disagreeable modern trend.
“Although venues are allowed to take their own decisions about whether or not to host Franklin Graham during his upcoming visit, they must, like all service providers, be careful not to discriminate unlawfully on grounds of religion and belief.
“The UK has robust protections for freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and the price of living in a free, plural society is tolerating views and beliefs that we disagree with or are even offended by. That is fundamentally important.
“It is a sad truth that many people who tout themselves as being liberal are liberal only about what they like and are very intolerant of the views with which they disagree.”
Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Rees-Mogg was speaking after another Tory MP, Fiona Bruce, had asked: “Can really call ourselves a tolerant, inclusive and diverse society that respects freedom of speech, whatever one’s religion or beliefs, if we deny the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association a platform in this country?”
Both MPs are long-standing opponents of LGBT+ rights, with Rees-Mogg having vociferously opposed same-sex marriage and transgender equality.
Franklin Graham praises Russia’s homophobic ‘gay propaganda’ law.
In the past week alone, Franklin Graham has claimed that LGBT+ activists are “truthophobic”, and spoken out in support of a preacher who claims gay weddings will lead to homelessness and “fatherless children”.
On a previous visit to Russia, Graham praised Vladimir Putin’s ban on ‘gay propaganda’, saying: “I very much appreciate that president Putin is protecting Russian young people against homosexual propaganda. If only to give them the opportunity to grow up and make a decision for themselves.”
He added: “Homosexuals cannot have children, they can take other people’s children.”
In 2016, he branded LGBT+ rights a “moral 9/11”, claiming that gays and lesbians are leading “wicked, evil people” in attempts to undermine Christianity.
Graham said: “The country is imploding. We are seeing a moral implosion. Just like we saw the World Trade Center on 9/11 when the planes hit the tower, they imploded, they fell from within, and this is what’s happening to our country, we’re falling within.”
The preacher had sought to play down his long record of anti-LGBT+ hatred as he prepares to head to the UK, and has threatened to take legal action against the venues that have refused to host him.
