One of evangelicals’ most notorious anti-LGBTQ leaders sent chaplains to ‘comfort’ the traumatized after mass murder in gay nightclub

Franklin Graham is one of the best-known evangelical crusaders against the LGBTQ community, so Colorado Springs residents might have been surprised to see him send chaplains to offer “emotional and spiritual support” there after a gunman murdered five people in a gay nightclub and wounded 19 others.

For supporters of Graham and the two organizations he leads — the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse — this was an appropriate act of compassion and evangelism, no doubt.

But for members of the LGBTQ community and their allies, this was a disturbing vision of someone who incites violence pretending to engage in ministry after such a violent act.

BNG columnist Amber Cantorna, who grew up in and again lives in Colorado Springs, explained on Facebook Nov. 26 that she had made a second visit to the Club Q site and that “Billy Graham crusaders have been there all week offering their ‘thoughts and prayers,’ so affirming clergy started taking shifts to counteract their very triggering presence.”

LGBTQ ally and author Kathy Baldock commented on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Facebook post: “It seems quite odd to me that an organization that undermines the humanity, dignity and rights of the LGBTQ community would think it appropriate to go be amongst them in a time when that same religious and social stigmatization has CAUSED the crisis. Read the room. Your understanding of what is comforting and the damage Franklin Graham continues to cause to the LGBTQ community is sorely lacking. Pray, yes, but from a distance. Pray for comfort and for you own eyes to be open to your complicit behavior.”

On Nov. 20, the day after the mass shooting, Graham tweeted: “As a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, my thoughts and prayers are with the families of the 5 people killed in last night’s shooting at a bar in Colorado Springs, and the many others who were injured. What took place was absolutely evil.”

A year earlier, after a mass shooting in Chicago, Graham tweeted: “Gun control isn’t the answer — heart control is. It’s a matter of who is controlling the human heart. People need a heart change, and the only One who can transform the human heart is the Lord Jesus Christ when we surrender to Him in repentance and faith.”

This June, after the mass shooting of schoolchildren in Uvalde, Texas, Graham tweeted: “President Biden and his administration want to ban certain caliber handguns. That won’t help the problem. … The more we turn our backs on God and His Word, the more problems we have as individuals and as a nation.”

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association sent a “rapid response team” to Uvalde, just as it did last week to Colorado Springs. A ministry website explains that “the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team is a crisis response ministry developed by Franklin Graham and the BGEA following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The ministry currently has a nationwide network of chaplains in 48 states who are trained to provide relief — physically, emotionally and spiritually — to those affected by man-made or natural disasters.”

A news release quoted Josh Holland, international director of the rapid response teams, as saying of the Colorado Springs shootings: “Our hearts break for those who have lost loved ones and friends in this shooting. We are sending our crisis-trained chaplains to listen, comfort, pray with, and share God’s love with those who have been impacted by this horrific tragedy.”

Thus, on Nov. 21, Graham tweeted: “@BGEA Rapid Response Team chaplains arrived yesterday in Colorado Springs to begin offering emotional and spiritual support to this hurting community. Please continue to pray for the families of those who lost loved ones in this devastating shooting.”

That tweet appeared amid Graham’s ongoing normal stream of tweets about Republican politics and politicians and bashing of Democrats and liberals and gays. Five days after his rapid response team arrived in Colorado Springs, Graham was on the warpath against a bill in Congress that would protect same-sex marriage.

On Nov. 26, he tweeted: “It is very disappointing that 12 Republican senators sided with ultra-liberal @SenSchumer and voted for the Respect for Marriage Act which strikes a blow against millions of Americans who believe in and support traditional marriage.”

Few evangelical leaders have amassed the record of anti-LGBTQ speech owned by Graham. A few examples:

In 2013, Graham publicly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for creating restrictions on LGBTQ persons and “any gay and lesbian agenda,” saying Putin was doing the right thing more than then-President Barack Obama, whom he said had turned his back on God.
In 2014, speaking to a Watchmen on the Wall National Pastor’s Briefing, Graham said he didn’t want to be called “homophobic” and that “I’m not afraid of homosexuals, I’m really not — matter of fact, I love them. I love them enough to care to warn them that if they want to continue living like this, it’s the flames of hell for you.”
In a 2016 interview with James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family — a conservative evangelical organization based in Colorado Springs — Graham called gay Christians “the enemy” and said they want to “devour” homes and the entire nation. “We have to be so careful who we let into the churches,” he told Dobson “You have immoral people who get into churches and it begins to affect the others in the church, and it is dangerous.”
Also in 2016, Graham linked the LGBTQ community to “sexual predators and perverts.”
In 2019, Graham took aim at Pete Buttigieg, who then was running for president in the Democratic primary. “Mayor Buttigieg says he’s a gay Christian,” Graham tweeted. “As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized. The Bible says marriage is between a man & a woman — not two men, not two women.” Graham offered no similar criticism for Donald Trump, who is a serial adulterer and has been accused of multiple instances of sexual assault.
Also in 2019, Graham wrote that the “architect behind this offensive (for same sex marriage) is none other than Satan himself.”
In 2021, Graham praised North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson for calling LGBTQ people “filth,” commending the politician for “having the guts to stand up and tell the truth.”