The Rev. Billy Graham—an author, presidential advisor (who met every president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama) and famed evangelist who became known as “America’s Pastor”—died at his North Carolina home on Feb. 21 at age 99.
Graham was known for his televised “crusades,” which filled stadiums—but he was also known for being anti-LGBT.
Advocate.com noted that while Graham was not as overtly homophobic as son Franklin, Graham was deeply opposed to the LGBT community. In 1993, Graham suggested that AIDS was punishment from God; in 2012, he backed an anti-marriage-equality constitutional amendment in North Carolina.
However, in other aspects, father and son disagreed regarding their messages. For example, Franklin, during the 1990s, called Islam “a very evil and wicked religion”—what his father would have avoided saying. However, the elder Graham mostly preferred to stay away from hot-button topics, even stating that in a 2005 interview with The New York Times, NPR noted/
Billy Graham’s survivors include Franklin and daughter Anne Graham Lotz.
The Advocate.com piece is at www.advocate.com/religion/2018/2/21/what-obits-arent-saying-evangelist-billy-graham-was-homophobe. The NPR article is at www.npr.org/2018/02/21/136224476/americas-pastor-billy-graham-dies-at-99.