SALISBURY, Md. - There is a growing chorus of criticism over a planned visit from the son of the late Billy Graham.
Reverend Franklin Graham is scheduled to preach in Salisbury, but not everyone believes in his message.
Graham's "God Loves You Tour" is scheduled to stop in Salisbury on May 4.
A local Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender group says some of Graham's past statements are appalling.
Among "PFLAG Salisbury's" concerns: when Graham compared celebrating gay pride to celebrating adultery or murder.
The group voiced it's concerns at Monday night's Salisbury City Council meeting.
"The Graham tour is very homophobic and has been known to spout religious dogma about the whole queer community," said Mark Delancey, Executive Director of PFLAG Salisbury.
Pastor Robert Gregory with the Delmarva Evangelistic Church says Graham's visit is about a message of hope not hate.
"I think a lot of the push back is unfounded and the fact that this is a message of hope going out to people who need hope," Gregory said.
PFLAG took issue with the City openly promoting Graham's visit on social media.
Delancey says the city should remain on the sidelines.
"It's hard to determine which event you want to promote. So I would like to see a neutral stance in which none of them are promoted because you can't actually legislate morality," Delancey said.
Pastor Gregory says a lack of protest for last year's Salisbury Pride parade should serve as an example.
"They promote that and there wasn't a whole lot of backlash from the community on that, so why should there be backlash when we have a Christian event or a believer event," he said.
During last week's Council meeting, Mayor Jack Heath said the city would note promote Graham's event any further.
On Monday night, the Mayor said while he has great consideration for the LGBTQ community, he also firmly believes in the first amendment.
The City administrator said the last administration approved Graham's event coming to the TidalHealth stage.
Mayor Heath promised more screening of future events.
WBOC reached out to Franklin Graham for a statement. The statement is included, below in italics.
“I’m looking forward to being in Salisbury, Maryland, in May for the God Loves You Tidewater Tour. It’s disappointing to hear that one advocacy group in Salisbury is opposing my upcoming visit and accusing me of being hateful. I’m not coming to Maryland to speak against anyone, I’m coming with a message of hope for everyone—and I invite everyone to come. I’ll be sharing from the Bible, which tells of God’s love for us. This is Good News for all people, and this is the message that I’m coming to share in Salisbury on May 4. In fact, this is why we’re calling this the God Loves You Tour—we simply want the people of Maryland to know that God loves and cares for them. I’m grateful nearly 150 churches throughout the Eastern Shore are working with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to bring this message of hope to Salisbury, and I invite everyone, including the LGBTQ community to come and hear for yourselves the Good News of God’s love—all are welcome!”