Jerry Falwell

===Civil rights===
On his evangelist program ''[[The Old-Time Gospel Hour]]'' in the mid-1960s, Falwell regularly featured [[racial segregation|segregation]]ist politicians like governors [[Lester Maddox]] and [[George Wallace]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=522 |title=Holy War |publisher=SPLCenter.org |date=2003-06-26 |access-date=2010-11-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100203151501/http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=522 |archive-date=2010-02-03 }}</ref> About [[Martin Luther King Jr.|Martin Luther King]] he said: "I do question the sincerity and non-violent intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left-wing associations."{{sfn|J. Falwell|1982|p=310}}

In speaking of the ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' ruling, he said, in 1958:

{{blockquote|If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God's word and had desired to do the Lord's will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision would never have been made. The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.<ref name="Blumenthal 2007">{{cite magazine |last=Blumenthal |first=Max |author-link=Max Blumenthal |date=May 28, 2007 |title=Age of Intolerance |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/agent-intolerance/ |magazine=The Nation |location=New York |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808164956/http://www.thenation.com/article/agent-intolerance |archive-date=August 8, 2010 |access-date=November 7, 2010}}</ref>}}

In 1977, Falwell supported [[Anita Bryant]]'s campaign, which was called by its proponents "[[Save Our Children]]", to overturn an ordinance in [[Miami-Dade County, Florida|Dade County, Florida]], prohibiting discrimination on the basis of [[sexual orientation]], and he supported a similar movement in California.<ref name = NYT051507/>

Twenty-eight years later, during a 2005 [[MSNBC]] television appearance, Falwell said he was not troubled by reports that the nominee for Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, [[John G. Roberts]] (whose appointment was confirmed by the US Senate) had done volunteer legal work for [[gay rights]] activists on the case of ''[[Romer v. Evans]]''. Falwell told then-MSNBC host [[Tucker Carlson]] that if he were a lawyer, he too would argue for civil rights for [[LGBT]] people. "I may not agree with the lifestyle, but that has nothing to do with the civil rights of that part of our constituency", said Falwell. When Carlson countered that conservatives "are always arguing against 'special rights' for gays," Falwell said equal access to housing and employment are basic rights, not special rights. "Civil rights for all Americans, black, white, red, yellow, the rich, poor, young, old, gay, straight, et cetera, is not a liberal or conservative value. It's an American value that I would think that we pretty much all agree on."<ref name=soulforce>{{cite web|url=http://www.archives.soulforce.org/2005/08/|last=Melzer|first=Eartha Jane|title=Falwell Speaks in Favour of Gay Civil Rights|publisher=Soulfource.org|date=August 26, 2005|access-date=November 16, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170714120644/http://www.archives.soulforce.org/2005/08/|archive-date=July 14, 2017}}</ref>