Cleaning Up After False Samaritan Franklin Graham
Reclaim Pride, Rise and Resist, Reverend Billy exorcise the demons from Central Park
BY DONNA ACETO
Queer fl ags of all stripes
were on display Saturday
morning, May 16,
as several dozen members
of Reclaim Pride, Rise and
Resist, and Reverend Billy Talen’s
Stop Shopping Choir turned out
in Central Park’s East Meadow to
exorcise the demons left by the
hospital tents that had been established
there by Franklin Graham’s
Samaritan’s Purse.
Facing increased pressure from
LGBTQ activists and elected offi -
cials, Graham, an anti-LGBTQ and
anti-Muslim extremist, announced
on May 2 that his charity would
leave the park and end its relationship
with Mount Sinai-Beth Israel
Hospital. The announcement came
two days after Mayor Bill de Blasio
expressed “concern” when asked
by Gay City News about Samaritan
Purse’s use of images of doctors
ministering to Central Park
COVID-19 patients on its online
fundraising page.
Graham, the son of the late
preacher Billy Graham, has
quoted the Bible’s Leviticus to describe
same-sex relationships as
an “abomination,” championed
conversion therapy, condemned
transgender identity and abortion
rights, and described Islam as an
“evil religion” and Mormonism as
a “cult.” When Samaritan’s Purse
set up camp in Central Park in late
March, the group tweeted out an
appeal for any “Christian doctor,
nurse, paramedic, or other medical
professional interested in serving
COVID-19 patients” in its facility.”
During its time in Central Park,
Samaritan’s Purse treated 300 patients
or less than one percent of the
43,676 people who had been hospitalized
in the city for COVID-19 by
the time it announced its departure.
At the May 16 cleansing of the
Central Park site, with marshals
enforcing six-foot separation
among activists, Natalie James
made introductions, followed by
Reverend Billy who condemned
the homophobic and transphobic
Reverend Billy Talen and his Stop Shopping Choir joined Reclaim Pride and Rise and Resist at the cleansing
ritual on May 16.
“Statement of Faith” that Samaritan’s
Purse required volunteers to
sign. He described the East Meadow
as a place of “real love.”
The Stop Shopping Choir then
led the crowd in a call and repeat
song:
And when I rise
Let me rise
Like a bird
Joyfully
When I fall
Let me fall
Like a leaf
Gracefully
When I stand
Let me stand
Like a tree
Strong and tall
When I lay
Let me lay
Like a lake
Refl ecting all
When I resist
I will resist
Like the sea
Relentlessly
When I speak
I will speak
Like the wind
Loud and free
Activist Ann Northrop — who,
with Reverend Billy, was one of
only two people given a summons
at a May 3 Reclaim Pride press conference
outside Mount Sinai-Beth
DONNA ACETO
Israel Hospital in the East Village
denouncing Franklin’s presence in
the city — then spoke briefl y, ending
by saying, “Hate is gone.”
HUMAN RIGHTS
Rather than burning sage and
inviting police intervention this
weekend, the crowd instead blew
bubbles.
Though a few police cars swung
by to look at the demonstration,
none stopped.
Some passersby joined the
cleansing, each instructed to observe
the six-foot separation rule.
DONNA ACETO
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