‘Gloriously Irrelevant’: Franklin Graham’s ‘Fringe’ Views on Gays Are ‘Moral Manure’ to Even His Hometown Paper

After years and years of using his brand of religion to attack LGBT people, Franklin Graham‘s latest criticism may have been the straw that broken the camel’s back.

Last week the crusading Christian evangelical anti-gay extremist took an ugly swipe at Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. Graham called on the Indiana mayor to “repent” for his “sin” of being gay, warning if he did not he could face “eternal damnation,” or, as some would say, hell.

Many, including some conservatives, ran to Buttigieg’s defense, blasting the Charlotte, North Carolina based political and religious critic for his outdated and offensive views.

Many noted Graham’s own hypocrisy, working hard to support President Donald Trump, whose sins seem to know few bounds, while attacking Buttigieg for living his true self openly and proudly, while abiding by and speaking about his Christian beliefs.

In a scathing editorial by its editorial board, The Charlotte Observer has slammed Graham.

“It’s been a little while since Franklin Graham offered up a shovel of moral manure,” the editorial board writes in “The gloriously growing irrelevance of Franklin Graham.”

They call his attack on Buttigieg “a typically ripe bite of bigotry from Graham,” while noting “Graham does not represent most Americans,” and “doesn’t represent most Christians.”

Graham’s “words have become increasingly and gloriously irrelevant,” the paper says, noting, “Graham’s perspective on homosexuality has been pushed to the fringe.”

“How do you tell a gay candidate to repent but utter hardly a peep about the philandering, dishonest man who now holds the office? There’s only one way to get past that inconsistency, and that’s to pretend it doesn’t exist. So Graham has chosen to do something that even many Trump supporters won’t do — he calls the president’s affairs ‘alleged’ and exalts him as a defender of the faith.”

Criticism of Graham for his remarks warning Buttigieg that “eternal damnation” awaits him has gotten so intense Graham tried to walk back his remarks a bit. He’s now insisting he’s “not condemning anyone.”