Jerry Falwell

===Views on homosexuality===
Falwell condemned homosexuality as forbidden by the Bible. Homosexual rights groups called Falwell an "agent of intolerance" and "the founder of the anti-gay industry" for statements he had made and for campaigning against [[LGBT social movements]].<ref name=NYT051507/><ref name="Blumenthal 2007"/> Falwell supported [[Anita Bryant]]'s 1977 "Save Our Children" campaign to overturn a Florida ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of [[sexual orientation]] and a similar movement in California.<ref name=NYT051507>{{cite news |last=Applebome |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Applebome |date=May 15, 2007 |title=Jerry Falwell, Leading Religious Conservative, Dies at 73 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/obituaries/15cnd-falwell.html?hp |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630165807/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/obituaries/15cnd-falwell.html?hp |archive-date=June 30, 2017}}</ref> In urging the repeal of the ordinance, Falwell told one crowd, "Gay folks would just as soon kill you as look at you."<ref name=homosexuals>{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Hans |last2=Eskridge |first2=William |author2-link=William Eskridge |date=May 19, 2007 |title=The Legacy of Falwell's Bully Pulpit |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051801392.html |url-status=live |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111163004/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051801392.html |archive-date=November 11, 2012 |access-date=May 18, 2007}}</ref> When the LGBT-friendly [[Metropolitan Community Church]] was almost accepted into the [[World Council of Churches]], Falwell called them "brute beasts" and stated that they are, "part of a vile and satanic system" that "will be utterly annihilated, and there will be a celebration in heaven."<ref name=vile/> He later denied saying this.<ref name=intersex/> Falwell also regularly linked the [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] pandemic to LGBT issues and stated, "AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals, it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."<ref name=AIDS>{{cite web |url=http://www.milforddailynews.com/opinion/x1987843539 |title=Press: The Sad Legacy of Jerry Falwell |author=Press, Bill |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928110421/http://www.milforddailynews.com/opinion/x1987843539|access-date=February 15, 2015|archive-date=September 28, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

After comedian and actress [[Ellen DeGeneres]] came out as a lesbian, Falwell referred to her in a sermon as "Ellen DeGenerate". DeGeneres responded, "Really, he called me that? Ellen DeGenerate? I've been getting that since the fourth grade. I guess I'm happy I could give him work."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986189,00.html |title=He Called Me Ellen Degenerate? |access-date=November 25, 2008 |last=Handy |first=Bruce |magazine=Time |location=New York |date=April 14, 1997 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081123083654/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986189,00.html |archive-date=November 23, 2008}}</ref>

Falwell's legacy regarding homosexuality is complicated by his support for LGBT civil rights (see "civil rights" section above), as well as his attempts to reconcile with the LGBT community in later years. In October 1999, Falwell hosted a meeting of 200 evangelicals with 200 gay people and lesbians at Thomas Road Baptist Church for an "Anti-Violence Forum", during which he acknowledged that some American evangelicals' comments about homosexuality entered the realm of hate speech that could incite violence.<ref>{{cite news |author=Niebuhr, Gustav |date=October 23, 1999 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/23/us/religion-journal-falwell-finds-an-accord-with-gay-rights-backer.html |department=Religion Journal |title=Falwell Finds an Accord with Gay Rights Backer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630154512/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/23/us/religion-journal-falwell-finds-an-accord-with-gay-rights-backer.html |archive-date=2017-06-30 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> At the forum, Falwell told homosexuals in attendance, "I don't agree with your lifestyle, I will never agree with your lifestyle, but I love you" and added, "Anything that leaves the impression that we hate the sinner, we want to change that."<ref>{{cite news |last=Schwartz |first=Deb |url=http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/25/falwell/index.html |title=The Odd Couple |work=Salon|date=1999-10-25 |access-date=2010-11-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110129201711/http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/25/falwell/index.html |archive-date=2011-01-29}}</ref> He later commented to ''New York Times'' columnist [[Frank Rich]] that "admittedly, evangelicals have not exhibited an ability to build a bond of friendship to the gay and lesbian community. We've said ''go somewhere else, we don't need you here [at] our churches.''"<ref>{{cite news |last=Rich |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Rich |date=November 6, 1999 |title=Has Jerry Falwell Seen the light? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/06/opinion/journal-has-jerry-falwell-seen-the-light.html?scp=2&sq=jerry%20falwell%20AND%20homosexual&st=nyt&pagewanted=1 |url-access=limited |newspaper=The New York Times |page=A17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522005442/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/06/opinion/journal-has-jerry-falwell-seen-the-light.html?scp=2&sq=jerry%20falwell%20AND%20homosexual&st=nyt&pagewanted=1 |archive-date=May 22, 2013 |access-date=2010-11-07}}</ref>