Anti-LGBTQ evangelist Franklin Graham will deliver the invocation for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, Jan. 20, according to a copy of the program that was circulated on X.

Graham, who serves as president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, the evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization, and of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which was named for his late father, offered the opening prayer for Trump’s first inauguration in 2017.

As documented by GLAAD, the Asheville, N.C.,-based evangelist has attacked the LGBTQ community throughout his life and career.

He supported the draconian laws in Russia targeting “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” that have been used to suppress media that presents “LGBTQ identities and relationships in a positive or normalizing light.”

Praising Russian President Vladimir Putin for taking “a stand to protect his nation’s children from the damaging effects of the gay and lesbian agenda,” Graham also bemoaned that “America’s own morality has fallen so far that on this issue.”

Graham’s anti-LGBTQ advocacy on matters of domestic policy in the U.S. has included opposing Pride events, which he compared to celebrations of “lying, adultery, or murder,” and curricula on LGBTQ history in public schools, telling a radio host in 2019 that educators have no right to “teach our children something that is an affront to God.”

When his home state rolled back rules prohibiting gender diverse people from using public restrooms consistent with their identities, he tweeted that “people of NC will be exposed to pedophiles and sexually perverted men in women’s public restrooms.”

Graham has repeatedly smeared LGBTQ people as predatory and said the community seeks to “recruit” children into being gay, lesbian, or transgender.

He has also consistently opposed same-sex marriage, claiming that former President Barack Obama, by embracing marriage equality, had “shaken his fist at the same God who created and defined marriage,” adding, “it grieves me that our president would now affirm same-sex marriage, though I believe it grieves God even more.”

Graham also supports the harmful and discredited practice of conversion therapy, which he likened to “conversion to Christianity.”

When Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced his bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, Graham tweeted that “Mayor Buttigieg says he’s a gay Christian. As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized. The Bible says marriage is between a man and a woman — not two men, not two women.” 

Graham embraced Trump well before he was taken seriously in Republican politics, telling ABC in 2011 that the New York real estate tycoon was his preferred candidate.

Particularly during the incoming president’s first campaign as the GOP nominee and during his first term, the evangelical leader’s support was seen as strategically important to bringing conservative Christians into the fold despite their misgivings about Trump, who was better known as a philandering womanizer than a devout religious leader. 

The Vatican has approved new guidelines that opens the door for gay men in Italy to become priests.

The New York Times on Jan. 10 reported the Vatican approved the guidelines the Italian Bishop’s Conference adopted last November.

The guidelines specifically stipulate seminaries cannot reject applicants simply because of their sexual orientation, as long as they remain celibate. They will remain in place for what the Times described as a “3-year trial period.”

“This development is a big step forward,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ Catholic organization, in a press release. “It clarifies previous ambiguous statements about gay seminary candidates, which viewed them with suspicion. This ambiguity caused lots of fear and discrimination in the church, way beyond the arena of seminary admissions.”

“This new clarification treats gay candidates in the same way that heterosexual candidates are treated,” added DeBernardo. “That type of equal treatment is what the church should be aiming for in regards to all LGBTQ+ issues.”

The Vatican in 2016 reaffirmed gay men becoming priests.

“The church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture,’” reads a document the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy released that Pope Francis approved.

The document essentially reaffirmed the Vatican’s 2005 position on the issue. (Benedict XVI was pope at the time.)

The Vatican’s tone towards LGBTQ and intersex issues has softened since Francis became pope in 2013.

Francis publicly backs civil unions for same-sex couples, and has described laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust.” Francis in 2023 said priests can bless same-sex couples.

The pontiff earlier this month named Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego, who DeBernardo notes has made “strong positive statements regarding LGBTQ+ issues,” as the new archbishop of Washington. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Brian Burch, the president and co-founder of CatholicVote, an anti-LGBTQ Catholic group, to become the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.

Francis during a 2023 interview with an Argentine newspaper described gender ideology as “one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations” in the world because “it blurs differences and the value of men and women.” A declaration the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released last March with Francis’s approval condemned gender-affirming surgeries and “gender theory.”

The Maryland Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus on Wednesday will hold a town hall with the Delmarva Pride Center and DoCoPride that will focus on legal protections for LGBTQ Marylanders.

The town hall will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Waterfowl Building (40 S. Hanson St.) in Easton. It will also be virtual for those who cannot attend in person.

A press release notes elected officials and “state and federal legal experts” will talk about “the current status of protections for LGBTQ+ Marylanders and what the future may hold.”

“As Maryland prepares for the incoming federal administration, the LGBTQ+ Caucus is steadfast in reaffirming Maryland’s commitment to supporting all of its residents,” said state Del. Kris Fair (D-Frederick County), who chairs the Maryland Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus. “Coordination will be critical to building a comprehensive package of legislation that affirms the unique lived experiences of all its residents — especially queer, nonbinary, and transgender people targeted by harmful legislation.”

Tina Jones, co-founder and chair of the Delmarva Pride Center in Easton, in the press release notes the LGBTQ community “is facing unprecedented levels of bias and potential harm at this time.”

“As part of our safe spaces initiative, we are honored to have this opportunity to partner with the Maryland Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus and DoCo Pride to educate folks on their rights and stand together to say hate, bias, and harm have no place on the Eastern Shore or anywhere in Maryland,” said Jones.

Registration for the event is here: