Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of evangelist Billy Graham, told senators Tuesday that she would "protect people of all faiths" if confirmed as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. The pledge came as Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia pressed President Donald Trump's nominee on how she would respond to the persecution of LGBTQ people abroad.
At the Nov. 10 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Kaine pointed to countries that criminalise same-sex relationships and asked how Lynch would protect people targeted under such laws. He also raised her past criticism of LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws, saying those remarks made him question whether LGBTQ people would see her as someone who would defend them equally.
Lynch said she would oppose laws that criminalise people based on their sexual identity. When asked about her earlier comments, she pointed to the case of Jack Phillips, a Colorado baker who declined to make a cake for a same-sex wedding because of his religious beliefs. She said she had used her platform to discuss divisive issues and wanted people with different convictions to be able to work together.
Lynch drew on more than 16 years of work with Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in her opening testimony. She recalled visiting mass graves in northern Iraq, speaking with families who had sought refuge in the mountains of Sudan, and meeting relatives of the 21 Coptic Christians killed by the Islamic State in Libya. She told senators those encounters would inform her work if confirmed.
Lynch said she would seek bipartisan support for addressing religious persecution. The post, created under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, leads the State Department's Office on International Religious Freedom and advises the president and secretary of state on religious freedom abroad. Her nomination must advance through the Foreign Relations Committee before it can go to the full Senate.
