Trump’s pastor hits out at ‘sinful’ Gay Bowl NFL sponsorship

President Trump’s pastor Franklin Graham has hit out at the sponsorship of this year’s Gay Bowl, saying they shouldn’t promote a “sinful lifestyle”.

Graham hit out at the New England Patriots, which became the first NFL team this year to sponsor a gay football tournament.

Reverend Graham, the head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said the decision by the Patriots, winner of five Super Bowls, was “disappointing”.

He said: “The Patriots have the right to do whatever they want… but I’m disappointed that a great team from such a wonderful area of the country would promote a sinful lifestyle like this.

“Shame on them,” added Reverend Graham. “Let the Patriots know that you don’t support this move.”

The move sponsors the Gay Bowl, a championship tournament for LGBT flag football teams.

The Gay Bowl describes itself as “the national LGBT flag football tournament, put on every Columbus Day weekend by the National Gay Flag Football League (NGFFL). The tournament will feature teams participating in three divisions; Open ‘A’, Open ‘B’ and a Women’s division.”

The Patriots are the first NFL team to sponsor the Gay Bowl.

Earlier this month Graham claimed that Christians are persecuted because they do not support the “gay-lesbian agenda”.

Graham claimed in March that Oscar-winning film Moonlight is an attempt to convince young people to make “homosexual lifestyle choices”.

Last year he attacked LGBT-inclusive churches and declared gay people are ‘the enemy’.

He has also accused LGBT activists of “trying to cram down America’s throat the lie that homosexuality is okay”, alleging that anti-discrimination laws will mean that “your children, and your grandchildren will be at risk to sexual predators and perverts”.

In 2015 Graham praised Vladimir Putin’s support for anti-gay laws – and claimed that homosexuals “take people’s children” in an interview with a Russian newspaper.