Every UK venue that had been booked on behalf of Christian evangelist Franklin Graham has now refused to play along with the anti-LGBTQ bigot, leaving him scrambling to find hosts for his hate parade.

Remember that just last week, a venue in Liverpool said no to hosting Graham because of his long history of bigotry which was “incompatible with our values.” The dominoes began falling after that.

Now all eight venues that had been booked have canceled on Graham.

The Utilita Arena in Newcastle was the final venue to announce it had axed the preacher, following the lead of venues in Birmingham, Newport, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Liverpool. A London date, also planned, never secured a venue. Newcastle’s Utilita Arena confirmed on Wednesday: “Following talks with our partners and relevant stakeholders we can confirm that the Franklin Graham event scheduled at the Utilita Arena Newcastle in June will not take place.”

Thoughts and prayers.

Remember that this isn’t some attack on Christianity. It’s a rejection of the brand of Christianity that claims homosexuality is a “sin,” that Satan created same-sex marriage, that the existence of gay people amounts to a “moral 9/11,” that gay people are “the enemy” of civilization, and that gay conversion torture is a wonderful idea.

That’s what Franklin believes no matter how much he attempts to cloak it with claims of spreading the Gospel.

Graham may very well visit the UK. But none of these venues cares to make money off of his visit. They’d rather say no to hate than yes to Christian bigotry. Good on them. It doesn’t silence Graham; he isn’t owed a platform.

Naturally, Graham’s organization, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, says it’s considering lawsuits against all the venues for backing out of their contracts. Maybe they have a legitimate case there; they probably don’t. But whatever Graham’s doing, it’s not helping Christians writ large. The more Christianity is associated with the kind of bigotry he espouses, the faster people in the UK will run away from religion altogether.

If Graham does come to the UK, then, atheists ought to be throwing a parade in his dishonor.

(via Joe. My. God.)

