As a feminist, lesbian, and someone who supports separation of church and state I cannot mourn the passing of Jerry Falwell. I must agree with my friend Jeff Montomery, executive director of the Triangle Foundation, an LGBT advocacy group based in Michigan, who said:"The media reports [Falwell] died from heart failure, which presumes he had a heart to begin with. If that's so, it failed long before his passing."
The Virginia-Pilot reports:
In his 1987 autobiography, "Strength for the Journey," Falwell recalled a turbulent family history. Falwell's father was an agnostic who hated preachers, ran a bootleg whiskey operation during Prohibition, and killed his younger brother in self-defense four years before Falwell was born.
Could Jerry have been rebelling against his father? Has the political landscape in the U.S. suffered because of the way a father treated his son?
In the late 80's, when Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's televangelism empire ran into trouble stemming from accusations of financial misconduct and Jim's involvement is a sex scandal, Falwell was quick to swoop in and take over the profitable cable television network. Tammy Faye later criticized Falwell for his lack of interest in Jim's spiritual well being, choosing instead to capitalize on Bakker's misfortune for his own personal gain.
Most Americans will probably remember Falwell most for the outrageous statements he made after leaving the Moral Majority. In 1999, Falwell's publication the National Liberty Journal warned parents that the Tinky Winky TV character was secretly gay and morally dangerous. The story, leaked to the press by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, received international coverage.
In 2001, Falwell blamed the September 11 terrorist attack on "pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America."
Jerry Falwell is dead, but unfortunately his legacy will continue. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins was quick to weigh in on Falwell's passing -- making sure to mention he is a graduate of Falwell's Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. There are certainly others waiting in the wings as well.
Falwell was clearly someone who demonized and vilified feminists and lesbians and gays for political gain -- and profit! And he was also someone who used religion to divide rather than unite the country. For this I cannot mourn his passing.
