NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- City Council Speaker Corey Johnson has joined other local lawmakers in warning the charity overseeing the field hospital in Central Park that the facility will be closely watched for discriminatory practices, based on Samaritan's Purse's homophobic and transphobic ideology and well-documented homophobic remarks made by Samaritan's Purse president Franklin Graham.
Volunteers have to agree that transgender people don't exist, same-sex marriage is a sin, and gay people should be celibate or risk "damnation and eternal punishment."
Graham has previously said that Satan is connected with LGBTQ rights. He tweeted last year that homosexuality is a "sin." He also once tweeted that homosexuality is "something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized."
And last year Graham, the son of the late Billy Graham, said Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg should repent for being gay.
Franklin Graham has a long history of spewing anti-LGBTQ hate speech and I find it extremely troubling that he and his organization are involved in our relief efforts in any way. I will be monitoring this situation closely.
— NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson (@NYCSpeakerCoJo) April 1, 2020
My full statement: pic.twitter.com/2cg6dHYHwA
"Franklin Graham has a long history of spewing anti-LGBTQ hate speech and I find it extremely troubling that he and his organization are involved in our relief efforts in any way," Johnson, who is gay, said in a statement Tuesday night. "New York City is known around the world for our embrace of diversity and Franklin Graham has spent his career standing against these values. I will be monitoring this situation closely and making sure that our city's values are being represented at all times."
Earlier in the day Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was "assured" that the makeshift medical facility will accept all patients and not discriminate -- although he admitted he found their involvement "very troubling."
"I said immediately to my team that we had to find out exactly what was happening," de Blasio said. "Was there going to be an approach that was truly consistent with the values and the laws in New York City, that everyone would be served and served equally? We've received those assurances from the organization."
The facility is being run in conjunction with the Mount Sinai System.
He further explained, "I spoke earlier today with the CEO of the Mount Sinai System, Dr. Ken Davis, who was adamant that they will only continue their relationship with the organization if those rules are followed, that they have a written agreement, that there's going to be no discrimination whatsoever."
"We're going to send people over from the Mayor's Office to monitor" the makeshift hospital, de Blasio added. "So I'm very concerned to make sure this is done right. But if it is done right, of course, we need all the help we can get."
Sen. Brad Hoylman, who is gay, also said he put the charity on notice. "COVID-19 doesn't discriminate, and neither should Franklin Graham," said Hoylman. "It's unacceptable that a New Yorker infected with COVID-19 could be subjected to discriminatory treatment from an organization whose leader calls us 'immoral' and 'detestable.'"
