Franklin Graham Backs N.C.'s Amendment One

Evangelist Franklin Graham, unsurprisingly, has come out in support of North Carolina’s anti–marriage equality Amendment One.

Graham released an audio message Friday urging voters to “take a stand on God’s definition of marriage” as a union between a man and a woman, The Christian Post reports. His sister Anne Graham Lotz, also an influential Christian leader, is supporting the measure as well.

They are the children of famed evangelist Billy Graham, and Franklin Graham is president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, based in Charlotte.

North Carolinians will vote May 8 on Amendment One, which would change the state’s constitution to ban legal recognition of same-sex marriage as well as civil unions or any other type of relationship except heterosexual marriage. The state already bans same-sex marriage by statute, but constitutional bans are harder to overcome.

Some religious leaders have voiced opposition to the measure, among them Jay Bakker, the son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. He is pastor of a church in New York City, but he grew up in North Carolina.