Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D) intensely questioned Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of the late Rev. Billy Graham, on LGBT issues during her Senate confirmation hearing to serve as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.
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Kaine asked Lynch, who supports a biblical understanding of marriage as a lifelong union between one male and one female, how she would work as ambassador “to protect … LGBTQ folks from persecution.” Lynch immediately responded that, in her official capacity, she would have a “responsibility to protect people of all faiths” and does not believe “anyone should ever be criminalized or persecuted for their personal beliefs.”
The senator, who identifies as Catholic, told Lynch there are “countries around the world [that] criminalize just being gay, being LGBTQ” — an interesting line of inquiry for a politician who has been intensely supportive of celebrating Islam, stating in the past that Muslim Americans “enrich the fabric of our communities,” given the religion is deeply opposed to homosexuality.
Kaine pressed Lynch to explain her view, which she expressed in February 2021, that certain LGBT nondiscrimination laws could jeopardize Christian religious freedoms, a concept that apparently was difficult for the Virginia lawmaker to understand. For context, Lynch — who has worked alongside her father, Franklin Graham, at the humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse — wrote in a 2021 opinion article for Fox News that the “extreme” Equality Act would “erode” religious liberties for Christians.
If enacted into law, the Equality Act, which has been introduced in Congress numerous times but has never passed through the Senate, would amend existing civil rights laws in the U.S. to explicitly prohibit any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity across areas like employment, housing, and education. Lynch, for her part, has argued such legislation would override religious liberty protections, barring faith-based organizations that hold to a biblical view of sexuality from operating according to their deeply held religious convictions.
During her Senate hearing this week, Lynch specifically mentioned to Kaine the case of baker Jack Phillips, a small business owner in Denver, Colorado, who skyrocketed to national news in 2012, when he declined to make a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple. He has faced numerous lawsuits in the years since for similar issues, all of which he has won to date.
Nevertheless, Lynch argued Phillips is a prime example of an American who has faced intense attacks because of his personally held religious beliefs when it comes to marriage. She also mentioned he has never turned away customers due to their sexual practices or personal ideologies, noting Phillips “for years” has “served people of the LGBT community” without issue.
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While the ambassador-at-large nominee has her own views of sexuality and marriage, she told the senators in Congress she has always sought to engage in dialogue about these issues “with kindness” and “with respect.”
“I’ve talked about on my platform many issues that are divisive in our culture and we are in a culture that teaches us that, if we believe something differently, that we can’t get along with somebody, that that’s hate speech,” she said.
On a global scale, Lynch said she “would never be able to support something [such as a Ugandan law] where it’s criminalizing people … for their sexual identity, for their sexual preference.” She reaffirmed to Kaine she is committed, if confirmed, to “represent[ing] people of all faiths,” and drew particular attention to the religious persecution happening around the world: “People are dying. People are being persecuted. People are put into jail. There’s 80 countries with blasphemy laws.”
“I’ve learned that through my years of working when I work in the countries with people I often don’t have the same beliefs, but we come together,” she said of her humanitarian work with Samaritan’s Purse, adding her goal is to “find that common ground to help people on a bipartisan mission.”
Before a vote on Lynch’s confirmation can reach the full Senate, she must first be approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Republicans currently hold a 12-10 majority. In the full Senate, Republicans outnumber Democrats at 53-47.
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