Snowflakes gliding gently towards the inferno...

August 30, 2005 4:24 PM

Jerry Falwell makes outspoken comment about civil rights for gays.He's for 'em. Maybe, as SoVo.com supposes, SoulForce has succeeded in it's close quarters outreach to their old foe/ex-ally. Maybe that's a lesson to us all...
posted by dash_slot- (23 comments total)

Nary a hint of attempting to co-opt the middle at all. Nope. None.

Also I'm guessing marriage isn't covered as a basic civil right.

One of these days, I'm going to have to be less cynical.
posted by Mercaptan at 4:35 PM on August 30, 2005

He's not for gay marriage, or anything like that, dash. What he's saying is that while he objects to treating the "gay lifestyle", as he would put it, with equality, he does not object to treating gays equally in other issues, such as housing. Love him or hate him, it's actually a fairly consistant viewpoint from Fallwell's perspective. His viewpoint is that gay behaviour shouldn't be accepted as normal, but that gays still have generic fundamental rights.
posted by unreason at 4:40 PM on August 30, 2005

Human Rights Campaign Letter:

"Dear Rev. Jerry Falwell,

I’m writing to thank you for supporting equal rights for gays and lesbians on primetime television. On Aug. 5, you told Tucker Carlson on MSNBC’s 'The Situation' :

'But civil — civil rights for all Americans, black, white, red, yellow, the rich, poor, young, old, gay, straight, et cetera, is not a liberal or a conservative value. It’s an American value that I would think that we pretty much all agree on.'

Even when Mr. Carlson said he 'thought conservatives are always arguing against special rights for gays,' you responded with a strong statement of support, saying:

'Well, housing and employment are not special rights. I think — I think the right to live somewhere and to live where you please or to work where you please, as long as you’re not bothering anybody else, is a basic right, not a — not a special right.'

Rev. Falwell, it was inevitable that we would reach a common ground and we have. I agree that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans should never be discriminated against because of who they are.

The Human Rights Campaign lobbies Congress for a federal law that would ensure no American is discriminated against in the workplace because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

You spoke with passion for the civil rights of all Americans — regardless of if they’re gay or straight. Thank you. Fairness is something that we should all agree on so in many ways this was no surprise. One day, I hope you’ll even join me on a trip to Capitol Hill to argue for this basic right.

Sincerely,

HRC President Joe Solmonese"

posted by ericb at 4:42 PM on August 30, 2005

I have no faith in the sincerity of Falwell's flipflopping. These scumbag weasels will say anything to make Roberts a SCOTUS justice, so that they can tear away at Roe v. Wade.
posted by Rothko at 4:48 PM on August 30, 2005

His viewpoint is that gay behaviour shouldn't be accepted as normal, but that gays still have generic fundamental rights.

Gee . . . thanks . .

That our rights should even be up for discussion is insane.
posted by Boydrop at 4:50 PM on August 30, 2005

It sounds really good at face value, but he has a history of being essentially a fundie hatemonger. This could just as easily be a PR move as anything else. I'll leave the Adm. Ackbar pic to someone else.
posted by mystyk at 5:00 PM on August 30, 2005

It sounds really good at face value, but he has a history of being essentially a fundie hatemonger. This could just as easily be a PR move as anything else.

I agree that Falwell has an ugly bigoted history, but just how does he stand to gain anything with his constituency with such a statement? I'm just asking, not defending the man, he's nothing to me.
posted by jonmc at 5:13 PM on August 30, 2005

*He* personally may have nothing to gain, which is what makes this a fairly astonishing statement from him.

But, what the party he identifies with has to gain is . . . less division. Falwell may not always follow marching orders, but he knows the general drift of the march.

Also, he may well have been promised someone more to his liking next go-round, if he plays ball this time.
posted by hackly_fracture at 5:17 PM on August 30, 2005

He's not for gay marriage, or anything like that, dash.

I know that. But for a bigot like him - who once blamed 9/11 on the gays and the lesbians - to now say that equal rights includes us sinners, well, that is progress. (Mind you, it couldn't happen here, y'know. There's a strange sorta 'Only in America' quality to the condemnation his type spouts).
posted by dash_slot- at 5:48 PM on August 30, 2005

There's a strange sorta 'Only in America' quality to the condemnation his type spouts

Tell that to Ian Paisley. The US does not have the market cornered on crazy fundies.
posted by jonmc at 5:58 PM on August 30, 2005

There may be political motive behind this. However, this sounds like Falwell may be trying to follow the old adage "Hate the sin, love the sinner."

Of course, that just brings to mind some great possibilities for horrible jokes.
posted by Saydur at 9:06 PM on August 30, 2005

awww the big galoot. what a totally human thing to say! When he gets to hell, there will be a mint on the razor wire pillow. He earned it.
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 9:34 PM on August 30, 2005

also

CARLSON: That, of course, former Chrysler Motors Chairman Lee Iacocca and avid dope-smoking rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg in a TV ad for the car company.

snoop quite yo. where were you?
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 9:36 PM on August 30, 2005

"This could just as easily be a PR move as anything else."

Sure. And the correct PR response is praise him. Maybe he is a cynical, senile old coot. But I believe in positive reinforcement, both to encourage him and to encourage others by example.

If you want the moral high ground, then you have to acknowledge when others do right as well as when they do wrong.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:06 AM on August 31, 2005

It's about freakin' time he said something positive, especially when he could have spouted off something completely inappropriate related to the situation in NOLA right now.
posted by deusdiabolus at 12:34 AM on August 31, 2005

All he said was that gays have the right to get a job and own stuff.

They should have followed up the question with, should gays be allowed to have sex? Should they be allowed to marry? Should they be allowed to serve in the military? Should they be allowed to preach? Should they be allowed to adopt?

All this interview really told us is that Jerry Falwell is a capitalist, and we already knew that.
posted by Jatayu das at 4:15 AM on August 31, 2005

This is nothing but an old man feeling his mortality and trying to get into heaven. Jessie Helms did the same thing in regards to AIDS.
posted by bas67 at 6:57 AM on August 31, 2005

No matter what the SOB does no one's going to forget his assertion that 9/11 was caused by gays and feminists.
posted by clevershark at 9:00 AM on August 31, 2005

Tell that to Ian Paisley. The US does not have the market cornered on crazy fundies.

True enough, jonmc. But Paisley has never - will never - have the ear of any major political figure in the UK. We may have to deal with him, but his bloc will never be able to influence national policy. Point taken though. Fundies are dangerous wherever they are.
posted by dash_slot- at 10:11 AM on August 31, 2005

Hey, it's progress.
posted by Tlogmer at 12:27 PM on August 31, 2005

'Now, now, I'm not gonna say that gays shouldn't be rounded up and sent off to camps. But what I will say is that it's just not right to shoot them until you know for certain that they're gay, and that they're trying to escape from the camps...'
posted by klangklangston at 12:47 PM on August 31, 2005

Hey, it's progress.

Progress?

Political expediency has been around for millennia. Falwell is simply looking at a bigger target (namely, abortion rights). Roberts is exactly the kind of justice who would be happy to reverse the gains of Roe v. Wade.
posted by Rothko at 1:08 PM on August 31, 2005

Wow, just wow!
posted by caddis at 5:10 PM on August 31, 2005