Evangelist Franklin Graham has accused Teen Vogue of being a "perverse and morally degenerate" "porn magazine" after it published a how-to guide teaching young girls to have anal sex.
In a lengthy Facebook post published on Thursday, Graham, the son of evangelist Billy Graham and the president of humanitarian organization Samaritan's Purse, slammed Teen Vogue's graphic advice column about anal sex, titled "What You Need to Know". The magazine's target audience is ages 11-17.
"They are glorifying anal sex and doing nothing to warn young readers of the extreme dangers that this practice brings from a medical standpoint," he writes. "Even more important are the spiritual ramifications. Sodomy is a sin against God.
Vogue's decision to publish the article, written by Gigi Engle on July 7, puts the magazine in the "porn" category, says Graham, and it should be "regulated as such."
"Parents be warned," he continues. "Teach your children the truth about sexual relations. Warn them against what the socialist progressives want to push on the innocents. This issue of Teen Vogue tells them the lie that, 'There is no wrong way to experience sexuality and no way is better than any other.' Schools will not teach the truth, the media will not teach the truth-it's up to you to raise your children in truth and knowledge."
He also urges parents to tell advertisers in Teen Vogue, including Macy's, David's Bridal, Levi's, Secret Deodorant, and Burt's Bees, that "we don't appreciate their support of this obscene content aimed at children and teens."
"Your local drug store or grocery store that is selling this magazine might not be aware that they're selling pornography," he says. "Let's make them aware and ask them to take Teen Vogue off their shelves."
The article received swift backlash from women's rights advocates and others appalled by its shocking and detailed content. One mother, Elizabeth Johnston, launched the #pullteenvogue campaign that went viral, urging store owners and public libraries to remove Teen Vogue from their shelves.
"Good for her!" says Graham. "She's right-this content is perverse and morally degenerate...As parents and grandparents, regardless of one's faith, we shouldn't stand by and let this kind of trash be pawned off on our children."
Johnston, a mother of ten who runs the "The Activist Mommy" Facebook page, also posted a video in which she rips up a copy of the magazine and throws the pages in a bonfire.
"I cannot believe what piece of trash Teen Vogue has printed in its June edition. They are teaching children - 11 through 17, that's the target audience of this magazine - how to be safely sodomized," she said in the video. "We should not be teaching children, period, how to have sex."
"These editors brains are in the gutter," she added. "Now, let's put their sales in the gutter where they belong."
Other conservative leaders have also spoken out against the Vogue article, including radio host and best-selling author Eric Metaxas, who accused the magazine of making a "pact with Satan."
"VOGUE MAKES PACT W/SATAN," Metaxas wrote on Twitter. "That's really the only explanation possible. Be sure never to buy a copy."
Phillip Picardi, the magazine's digital editorial director, responded to the outrage in a series of tweets, claiming the backlash is "rooted in homophobia" and "laced in arcane delusion about what it means to be a young person today." The tweets culminated with a photo of him embracing another man while holding up his middle finger.
He said Vogue had been "inundated with hate mail saying we promote sodomy and want teens to get AIDS."
"How can you expect young women to not get pregnant without access to reproductive health care," he tweeted.
Picardi then accused his Catholic school of being "guilty of endangering all of us by sheer omission of FACTS. EDUCATION doesn't equal ENCOURAGEMENT."
