No place in America has been as hard hit with the coronavirus crisis as has New York City. So concerned were city leaders about the likelihood of cases far surpassing the capacity of local hospitals to handle, they put out an emergency call for help to personnel and facilities across the country to urgently come to their aid. The Christian group Samaritan’s Purse did just that, setting up a mobile field hospital in Central Park where they have treated hundreds of COVID-19 patients and helped them recover.
In response to this kindness, Samaritan’s Purse has been slapped in the face by Corey Johnson, Speaker of the New York City Council and a homosexual activist, and his allies in the LGBT community. Using harsh invective, they’ve issued a demand that the charity, headed by Rev. Franklin Graham, get out of town immediately.
“[Samaritan’s Purse], led by the notoriously bigoted, hate-spewing Franklin Graham, came at a time when our city couldn’t in good conscience turn away any offer of help. That time has passed,” Johnson wrote on Twitter this week. “Their continued presence here is an affront to our values of inclusion, and is painful for all New Yorkers who care deeply about the LGBTQ community.”
Values of inclusion? To prove their commitment to inclusion they exclude people and groups that they themselves begged for help.
What Johnson and his allies in the intolerant LGBT community find so offensive is the belief by Rev. Graham and Samaritan’s Purse in the biblical understanding of marriage as being exclusively the union of one man and one woman. The charity does not discriminate in who they serve – all are welcome and served regardless of sexual orientation or belief. But as faithful Christians, the leaders and staff of the nonprofit group all subscribe to a biblical worldview of marriage.
The American people believe in marriage as the union of a man and a woman. It’s common these days for the media and the elites to cite dubious poll numbers purporting to show that voters are now in support of so-called gay “marriage.” But polls like these on sensitive cultural issues are very frequently wrong, as voters do not wish to put themselves in the midst of a cultural firestorm by going against prevailing winds. What we know from actual elections – dozens of them in the US – is that when voters had the chance to directly express themselves, over 50 million cast ballots in favor of maintaining marriage exclusively as the union of a man and a woman.
Regardless of your view of marriage, every person of good will should be outraged by what is happening in New York City. While pretending to stand for the values of “inclusion,” the Council Speaker and his allies in the LGBT community have insulted and excluded all Americans who believe in the universal understanding of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
Corey Johnson is not the only LGBT figure in New York City to demand that Samaritan’s Purse be kicked out of town, and that those who believe in traditional marriage are guilty of bigotry. “We want New Yorkers to know that they have been sold down the river by their officials and leaders who have not cared about them in bringing bigotry into the city,” said Ann Northrop, a member of the so-called Reclaim Pride coalition which held a protest this week at the Samaritan’s Purse field hospital even as they were caring for COVID-19 patients. “Samaritan’s Purse will be gone from New York within two weeks,” said Natalie James, the coalition’s co-founder. “We are very relieved and consider this to be a victory of the LGBT community and other oppressed groups.”
Some “victory.” Samaritan’s Purse and Rev. Franklin Graham should be given a key to the city, not given the boot. They were asked for help. They came, they served, they saved lives. They should be thanked for their sacrificial help by a grateful city. Differing views about marriage, or any other issue, should have nothing to do with dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Shame on New York City leaders like Corey Johnson and groups like the Reclaim Pride Coalition.
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