FRanklin GRaham Is Behind Field Hospital In Central Park And...

[Me.]

“On Tuesday morning, a makeshift tent hospital in Central Park will begin treating overflow patients from Mount Sinai, as the spread of COVID-19 begins to overwhelm local hospitals. Announcing the 68-bed respiratory unit this weekend, Mayor Bill de Blasio praised the relief organization, Samaritan's Purse, responsible for funding and erecting the facility.

The mayor did not mention that the group is led by Franklin Graham, a notorious anti-LGBTQ and Islamophobic preacher with a track record of using humanitarian missions to proselytize an evangelical agenda.

Graham, the son of prominent minister Billy Graham, has specifically sought to recruit Christian medical staff to the Central Park facility. According to the group's website, all volunteers, including health care workers, should read and adhere to a statement of faith, in which marriage is defined as "exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female" and the unrighteous are sentenced to "everlasting punishment in hell.

Asked whether the Mayor's Office considers this problematic, a City Hall spokesperson said the field hospital will operate as a Mount Sinai facility, and must adhere to the hospital's policy against discrimination. The spokesperson did not say whether the city was concerned that volunteers on the project are expected to agree with the group's anti-gay faith statement."

https://gothamist.com/news/samaritans-purse-franklin-graham-anti-gay-evangelical-central-park

[Pantagruel]

1. Thank them for the help

BUT monitor them closely, enforce anti-discrimination laws.

[Me.]

9. Agreed

Word really isn't out on this and in a city like NYC, once it is, it will become an issue. Then there will be demands for strict oversight. The help is welcome but the philosophy isn't.

[crickets]

12. Yes, there does seem to be a fist inside that velvet glove. nt

[Miguelito Loveless]

2. Send them to Lynchburg

where idiots of their ilk have started an outbreak.

[FBaggins]

5. There are five confirmed cases in Lynchburg

https://infection2020.com/

[Miguelito Loveless]

7. And Jerry Falwell Jr

brought 1900 students back last week, so the numbers will spike.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/us/politics/coronavirus-liberty-university-falwell.html

[FBaggins]

11. I think that's about 1/10th of their on-campus enrollment

I don't think it would be that hard for them to follow the existing social distancing guidelines.

[Miguelito Loveless]

15. The problem is, they came into the community from all over the country

They attend a college that rejects science and believe and invisible sky fairy will keep them safe. If only 1% of them came back with the disease, they would spread it to three people each. So, the day after they arrived the infection chain goes like this

19-->57-->171-->513-->1,539-->4,617-->13,851-->41,553 infected by day seven. (each person infects 3 people)

If we discount these numbers to account for "social distancing" mbers down. So. let's just assume 1% of that number, and we come up with 416 cases in JUST Lynchburg, a city in a state with 1,250 cases as of yesterday.

We are seeing that precautions against the virus depend on your politics. The redder the city/state, the less precautions taken. This is a blood red campus, in a pretty red city.

But, time will tell us how many lives their stupidity and arrogance will cost. In the meantime, let's keep the religious zealots away from people needing medical attention.

[NCDem47]

3. If/When it comes to extreme triage as to who lives or dies

THESE guys are going to make that call???

Gays? No.

Muslims? No.

Jews? No.

Unmarried with children (straight only need to apply)? No.

People of color? Iffy.

[Steelrolled]

4. Something tells me it won't work that way.

[NCDem47]

8. Let's hope.

This guys has a horrible track record. anything he's invloved with makes me skeptical.

[Miguelito Loveless]

10. Then you are an optimist

I would not trust these religious loons to do anything except screw up.

[Ferrets are Cool]

6. Sometimes being benevolent isn't enough for me to extend

good feelings....so Mr. Graham...GFYS.

[PJMcK]

13. Graham is in for a surprise

New Yorkers won't like his shit. Most New Yorkers won't put up with his discrimination and religious nonsense.

New Yorkers will metaphorically kick his ass to the curb.

I've lived in and around New York most of my life. I know my city.

Besides, the Mt. Sinai hospital system is huge and diverse. I live near the hospital (when there isn't a viral crisis) and a great many of the medical professionals live in the neighborhood renting apartments from the hospital's corporation. These folks are from all around the world and represent nearly every group you could imagine. The spectrum of diversity won't allow Graham's bullshit to flourish. Not in New York.

[FBaggins]

14. Let's see if I've got this straight

The city is (justifiably) worried that they're about to run out of beds and ventilators - causing thousands to die who would otherwise survive... and somebody shows up with a fully-equipped 68-bed hospital and a full staff at no charge... BUT all of those workers are from a religion that most New Yorkers disagree with.

And you think that nobody will "put up with their nonsense"? Those beds are just going to sit empty?

I'm not a betting man, but I'm having trouble thinking of odds high enough that I wouldn't want to take that bet.

[PJMcK]

16. I was referring to Graham's discriminatory behavior

That's all.

Of course, New York will accept any help we can get.

It's just that medicine doesn't mix well with religious bigotry or fundamentalism.

I'm sure you can understand that. If Graham's medical team refuses treatment of, say, gay men, do you think New Yorkers and their government will sit idly by? I really don't.

[FBaggins]

17. Two different things

If Graham's medical team refuses treatment of, say, gay men, do you think New Yorkers and their government will sit idly by? I really don't.

I don't either... but I seriously doubt that will happen (and they say so explicitly). Their statement of faith is about who can represent the organization... who can be part of their "ministry". Not about who they will minister to.

These mobile hospitals have been deployed all over the world... and their medical volunteers help in dozens of "mission hospitals" around the world - virtually none of which are in what I would consider to be "white anglo-saxon protestant" areas. If they discriminated against people who didn't look like them in the delivery of medical care... I'm sure we would have heard about it by now.

[DFW]

18. I wonder.........

Does threatening "everlasting punishment in hell" constitute the legal definition of a threat? If so under NY law, then they have a legal basis for kicking his pompous ass the hell outta their state--after three months in a city jail, preferably.

[Me.]

19. Interestimg Question

would it depend on the judge?

[DFW]

20. If so..........

Then I hope he gets judge Chaim Goldberg. His "Christian" defense probably won't carry quite as much weight.......

[Me.]

22. Also

an amazing number of non-Christian docs and nurses in this city, so I wonder how well that threat will work/go over

[ck4829]

21. How does stopping a woman without a 2nd X chromosome from getting married fight COVID?

There are also people with an extra Y chromosome and people with an extra X chromosome?

They're not genetically male or female in the same way other males or females are.

Franklin Graham needs to put aside this unwarranted hate for people with different chromosome structures.