Liverpool venue drops Franklin Graham event over 'incompatible' views

A Liverpool conference centre has cancelled a booking by the US evangelist Franklin Graham, saying he had made statements that were incompatible with its values.

The ACC Liverpool had been due to host an event featuring Graham on 12 June, as part of an eight-city tour of the UK.

In Glasgow, the board of the Scottish Events Campus is understood to be meeting on Wednesday to hear arguments that Graham’s event be cancelled. LGBTQ+ leaders in Sheffield have called for Graham’s event at Sheffield Arena to be scrapped. He is also due to appear in Newcastle, Milton Keynes, Cardiff, Birmingham and London.

Graham, the son of the US preacher Billy Graham, has described same-sex relationships as sinful and has called Islam “evil”.

Equality campaigners in Liverpool launched a petition against Graham’s event, saying his appearance “may incite hateful mobilisation and risk the security of our LGBTQ+ community”.

The Liverpool City Region Pride Foundation wrote to the ACC’s chief executive, the city’s mayor and the city council, saying Graham had promoted hate and supported conversion therapy.

“We are sure that you share our stance that these types of dangerous views are not welcome in, or representative of, our great city and to ask that the booking is immediately reviewed and cancelled,” the letter said.

The ACC said in a statement: “Over the past few days we have been made aware of a number of statements which we consider to be incompatible with our values.

“In light of this we can no longer reconcile the balance between freedom of speech and the divisive impact this event is having in our city. We have informed the organisers of the event that the booking will no longer be fulfilled.”

Joe Anderson, Liverpool’s mayor, said cancelling the event was the right decision. “Our city is a diverse city and proud of our LGBTQ+ community and always will be,” he tweeted.

“We cannot allow hatred and intolerance to go unchallenged by anyone, including by religious groups or sects.”

The evangelist, who backed Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election, has described Islam as “an evil and very wicked religion” and has equated the actions of extremist groups such as Isis with the faith.

He claimed Barack Obama was “born a Muslim” and had allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to infiltrate the US government at the highest levels during his presidency. He also said Satan was behind same-sex marriage.