0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth, they say, though when Mayor Bill de Blasio is on hand, the other end of the animal is usually involved.Gotham’s chief executive this week might have accepted with some grace an offer of assistance from a crisis-tested, and devoutly Christian, emergency-relief organization — but he gave it the fisheye instead.It seems that in Blasville, evangelical Christians armed with tons of the sophisticated medical equipment so sorely lacking in the city right now, plus the expertise to use it, are presumptively suspect. And are perhaps to be expelled.Thus it was with Samaritan’s Purse, the unapologetically fundamentalist rolling rescue squad perhaps best known for the Ebola clinics it established in West and Central Africa over the past decade.And, of course, for its traditionalist views on homosexuality and same-sex marriage — neither of which the group has much patience for. And that’s to put it mildly.
On Saturday, New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital decided to close the Samaritan’s Purse emergency hospital constructed to help coronavirus patients in New York’s historic Central Park. Sources said the decision came in part due to outrage at Samaritan’s Purse’s Christian beliefs about marriage and sexuality. The decision came one day after New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson demonized Samaritan’s Purse and its president, Franklin Graham, of “hate†against the LGBT community.“Mount Sinai hospital confirms it is closing down its field hospital in Central Park run by the group Samaritan’s purse beginning on May 4. According to a source, Samaritan’s purse, will not be relocating to another local hospital despite some recent rumors,†Melissa Russo, government affairs reporter for News 4 New York, tweeted on Saturday. “Source tells me a decision was made to sever ties after controversy over the group’s religious views on the LGBTQ community caused concerns in NY. They treated 315 patients and were down to 8 by Friday.â€
When Samaritan’s Purse, a global evangelical relief organization run by Franklin Graham, began setting up a large emergency field hospital in New York’s Central Park to care for the overflow of COVID-19 patients, a small but brash group of city leaders emphatically said the ministry was not welcome. Its Christian values were at odds with their city....When he learned of Samaritan’s Purse’s arrival at the invitation of Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson called its leader Franklin Graham “notoriously bigoted†and “hate spewing.â€â€œThis is very disturbing,†Johnson said. “We need reassurances from the city and from Mt. Sinai that Samaritan’s Purse and its volunteers will be monitored, and that the LGBTQ community will not be discriminated against in any way.â€...So what actually happened in the midst of these dramatic accusations of bigotry and homophobia? Just how many gays and lesbians did Samaritan’s Purse turn away or mistreat?The number is rather anti-climactic for these activists. No media organization — not The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Village Voice, the numerous LGBT print or online publications, nor the New York City Human Rights Commission itself — documented any case of any patient being turned away from Samaritan’s Purse’s services because of religious belief or sexual desire. No record existes of anyone being denied care for any reason. ...The New Times even noted, “On Friday afternoon, the City’s Commission on Human Rights closed an investigation into the [Samaritan’s Purse] hospital after finding no evidence it had discriminated against patients, according to its press secretary, Alicia McCauley.â€
