Editing Jerry Falwell (section)

===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 ordinance's repeal, 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 said they were "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 [[AIDS]] epidemic to LGBT issues and said, "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 and his attempts to reconcile with the LGBT community in later years. In October 1999, he 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 evangelicals' comments about homosexuality qualified as 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 told ''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>