Greece!

This would be entertaining if it wasn't dangerous. Remember that federal budget I mentioned yesterday that included funding for Planned Parenthood? Evangelist Franklin Graham (heir of Billy Graham) is incensed enough over it – both that PP thing and the whole budget just way too big – that he is leaving the Republican Party. Apparently the GOP is too willing to compromise and too moderate.

But he'll still vote for Trump.



Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin is quite the homophobe. Even so, he has issued what will likely be known as the Kim Davis order, named for the county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Bevin's executive order is that the name of the clerk is no longer required to be on marriage licenses. One problem, pointed out by the ACLU, is that Bevin doesn't have the authority for such a change – the legislature would have to do it.



Yesterday I reported that marriage (or even relationship) equality failed in Austria, Romania, and Slovenia. I'm happy to report that a bill allowing civil unions passed in Greece. The vote was 194-55. Greece is caught between the European Union demanding same-sex relationship equality and the Greek Orthodox Church's fierce opposition. So there will be civil unions, but not many rights (such as adoption or pensions) to go with them.



An anti-trans group Privacy for All didn't get enough signatures to get their proposal on the ballot in California. The bill would have required trans people to use bathrooms for their biological sex unless they had undergone reassignment surgery. So the bathroom wars won't be coming to Calif.

Boycott everything

When he was in active ministry Billy Graham spoke about acceptance and inclusion. He carefully avoided hostility and a demeaning attitude towards sexual minorities. He wasn't our advocate, but he wasn't our opponent either.

Not so his son Franklin.

Franklin Graham has taken over his father's organization (Billy is over 90 and has Parkinson's) and sometimes issues statements in his father's name. Alas, "Billy Graham" is sounding condemnatory these days.

In a statement using his own voice Franklin has had enough. He wants to boycott every business that "promotes sin."

I'm delighted that we're in a time when I can say: Good luck with that.

Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin walks us through all the products Franklin would have to avoid. For example, what car to drive? All GM, Ford, and Fiat-Chrysler products would be out, as would cars from Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Subaru, Audi, Tesla, Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini. I'm not sure what that leaves. A car from India or China?

Franklin switched all the organization's money from Wells Fargo to the North Carolina based BB&T. Yeah, Wells Fargo is so gay-friendly they use same-sex couples in advertisements meant for mass-market viewing. But somebody didn't do proper vetting of BB&T. It has an 80% rating from the Human Rights Campaign and has sponsored an entry in the Miami Pride Parade. Did BB&T get Franklin's approval because it didn't show gay people on Franklin's TV?