Rev. Franklin Graham has declared that presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg should “repent” his “sin” of being a homosexual. Graham explained that homosexuality “something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized.” It is a bizarre and deeply insulting declaration. I have seen no evidence of Buttigieg flaunting anything. He has conducted himself as any candidate in embracing his spouse and discussing his marriage. When heterosexual candidates cite their marriage, it is not declared “flaunting.”
Not to be outdone Pastor E.W. Jackson denounced Buttigieg’s candidacy as an effort to establish a “homocracy.”
The South Bend, Indiana mayor has answered questions about his sexuality and emphasized that “I get that one of the things about Scripture is different people see different things in it.”
Graham shared a CNN story about the town hall on Twitter, and said, “Presidential candidate & South Bend Mayor @PeteButtigieg is right—God doesn’t have a political party. But God does have commandments, laws & standards He gives us to live by.”
He added: “Mayor Buttigieg says he’s a gay Christian. 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.”
Buttigieg’s comments however seem not only more measured but moral on this issue: “It can be challenging to be a person of faith who’s also part of the LGBTQ community and yet, to me, the core of faith is regard for one another. And part of God’s love is experienced, according to my faith tradition, is in the way that we support one another and, in particular, support the least among us.”