The group has allegedly turned away volunteers over their sexual preferences - sparking at least one complaint to the NYC Commission on Human Rights.Ĭivil rights attorney Norman Siegel, the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties, said the relief organization appeared to be violating New York City's human rights protections. The group has drawn the ire of some New Yorkers, and concerns from Mayor Bill de Blasio, for forcing all health care workers and volunteers to adhere to an anti-gay statement of faith. They said they were treating dozens of critically ill people as of Monday morning.

Samaritan's Purse, led by notoriously anti-gay and Islamophobic preacher Franklin Graham, opened the 68-bed respiratory facility in Central Park last week to care for spillover COVID-19 patients from Mount Sinai.