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Falwell’s Fall: The Optics of Jerry Falwell Jr.’s “Leave of Absence”

Lucas Wilson | August 20, 2020

Topics: censorship in schools, conversion therapy, Jerry Falwell Jr, Liberty University, The Liberty Way

The fact that it took a (barely) racy photo to inspire Liberty University to take action against the school’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr, proves that Liberty cares more about appearances than doing the right thing, argues former LU student Lucas Wilson.

Recently, Jerry Falwell Jr. “mutually agreed” with the Liberty University Board of Trustees “to take an indefinite leave of absence” as LU’s president. The “agreement,” or more likely Falwell’s forced acquiescence, to step down comes in the wake of a “racy” photo surfacing that reveals the former university president at a Trailer Park Boys-themed party with his pants unzipped and his underwear and stomach exposed, holding a (presumably alcoholic) drink, with his arm around a younger woman whose pants are also undone.

Of course, the irony is that Falwell was, until August 7, the leader of Liberty, the world’s largest evangelical university, a school that fines and punishes students for the activities that Falwell, his family, and others are caught doing in the photo and an accompanying video. After the photo and video surfaced, the Board decided that Falwell’s presidency of LU needed to come to an end — for now, at least. 

Many online have celebrated Falwell’s removal, even if it is only temporary — and for good reason. This bizarre photo is nothing new in how Falwell has conducted himself in the years after taking over the school in 2007. Since, Falwell has established for himself a full resumé of bigotry and accompanying antics. A zealous supporter of Trump, whom he invited to speak on MLK Day in 2016, Falwell also recently published a racist tweet proclaiming that he would only wear a face mask during the pandemic if it had a photo of a man in black face and a man in a KKK uniform.

He has, moreover, a lengthy track record of censoring student free speech on campus and muffling student dissent, in addition to silencing faculty and university employees; university-wide fearmongering; lying; hypocrisy; questionable business deals; making, along with his wife, openly transphobic remarks; gesturing toward shooting “Muslims” if they were to step foot on LU’s campus; and putting students in danger by keeping Liberty open during times of COVID; among other unsavory public statements and actions. 

That it took this particular photo to give Liberty’s Board of Trustees pause speaks volumes about both Liberty and US evangelicalism more broadly. Falwell’s extensive and sustained track record of genuine wrongdoings, briefly listed above, was not what tipped the scale to have him ousted from his position. Rather, a photo in which he posed with a young woman in partial undress, a photo that in actuality reveals very little, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

Years of overt racism, Islamophobia, and transphobia, in concert with tyrannical leadership and governance, did not seem to be of much concern for the Board of Trustees, which is of course no surprise given the university’s so-called religious “commitments.” Indeed, many evangelicals have little concern for denouncing racism, homophobia, and Islamophobia because of how heavily their faith is invested in white supremacy, heteronormativity, and their belief in their own religious superiority. But instead of addressing Falwell’s many instances of chauvinism and intolerance, the Board suddenly seemed to care about Falwell’s public persona when the so-called “purity” of a woman — and by extension the “purity” of Liberty — was threatened by him posing in what is, in truth, an emphatically benign photo. 

That it was this photo — and not, say, Falwell’s racist tweet — that brought about his removal as president points to the way that LU and the evangelical church are not invested in being moral or upright. They are, by contrast, significantly more concerned with looking moral in their own estimation; that is, with appearing upright by the standards of other evangelicals. 

In lieu of removing Falwell for making qualitatively harmful and hateful declarations over the past several years as LU’s president, the Board of Trustees opted to remove him for a picture that reveals little, other than Falwell’s belly and underwear, and does little actual harm — other than to the reputation of the university, which upholds standards of sexual “purity” that are arguably more damaging to the school’s name than the photo itself.

The Board of Trustees’ recent decision demonstrates that though they (finally) took the moral high road to remove Falwell, the cause for his removal was not about actual misconduct. For if the Board was actually concerned with misbehavior, Falwell would have been dismissed long ago. The Board’s decision was, instead, catalyzed by the optics of evangelical morality — that is, the desire to seem moral without actually changing how one lives. The major difference between Falwell, LU, and the wider evangelical community, however, is that Falwell was caught, figuratively and literally, with his pants down. 

—

In light of the school’s prudent removal of Falwell from his post, it is high time to stress how much work Liberty has to do, particularly as it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Though many believe that Falwell will likely be back after tritely “repenting” for his past misdeeds — not to mention how several have wondered if his current replacement is simply a puppet under Falwell’s control — it nonetheless bears mentioning what needs to be undone in regard to the institutionalized bigotry for which Falwell and his late father are, in large part, responsible.

Not only does the school have a one-on-one gay conversion therapy program — and a group version thereof — but it is also home to a rampant culture of homophobia about which another graduate also recently wrote, detailing her experience as a lesbian. 

Additionally, Black students and staff have made known the white-supremacist culture of Liberty over the past several months. A former Black student at Liberty recently came forth with a story about a white LU instructor making a so-called “joke” about not having to worry about being whipped as a form of punishment. Moreover, a former queer, African American employee described when he, as the director of diversity retention, was forced to delete a tweet that read “BLACK LIVES MATTER” — a statement that is not and should not be considered controversial. He further explained: “I suppressed so much of my humanity as a black and queer man in being [at Liberty].” 

The way women are treated and expected to act at Liberty further reveals how far the school has to go in order to align itself with the baseline social mores of 2020. A Twitter thread from earlier this year, which is as laugh-out-loud comical as it is illuminating about the normalized sexism at LU, gives voice to the experiences of a number of women who attend or attended Liberty.

In concert with the school’s academics, which a former professor describes as having “fallen dramatically over recent years,” Liberty’s campus culture of homophobia, racism, and sexism — an unholy trinity of discrimination, so to speak — needs to be addressed. For a university to have such a publicly-known, institutionalized, and flagrant ethos of intolerance, one that actively works against minority students’ very personhood, should be of great concern for the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges, the governing body that accredits Liberty. 

Despite the fact that Falwell is now (temporarily?) gone — which is of course a victory in and of itself — Liberty has far to go in regard to how it treats its students who are not straight white men. If Liberty ever wants to be taken seriously as an institution of higher education — a goal yet to be realized, particularly by the standards of those in academia — it will have to begin updating its equity, diversity, and inclusion practices to fit the century in which it finds itself.

Top Photo via Twitter

Surviving Liberty

Zach Armstrong | April 8, 2020

Topics: Eli Germanotta, Jerry Falwell, Jerry Falwell Jr, Jonah Lackey, Liberty University, Moral majority, The Liberty Way, Title IX

For some LGBTQ students at Lynchburg’s Liberty University, life was tough even before coronavirus came to campus.

Eli Germanotta had finished their meal at the Reber-Thomas Dining Hall and started to walk back to their dorm when they began to smell alcohol and spray paint.

“There were jocks running away shouting slurs like faggot,” said Germanotta. 

Once Germanotta, who uses they/their pronouns, returned back to their dorm located on the east side of campus, they took off their jacket and laid it out on their bed. Spray painted in large letters on the back was the same word that their peers had yelled at them as they walked away from the dining room. 

As demeaning and possibly traumatizing as the experience was, Germanotta didn’t consider the event surprising, since it had occurred at a University that has proudly proclaimed itself “Politically Incorrect since 1971.”

Conservative activist and televangelist Baptist pastor Jerry Falwell Sr., founder of Thomas Road Baptist Church, had a vision that came to life in 1971: a fundamentalist Christian university located in his hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia. 

Originally named Lynchburg Baptist College and housing 154 students, Liberty University has become one of the largest evangelical Christian universities in the world and one of the largest private non-profit universities in the United States, with a student body of over 15,000. 

“From the beginning, the goal was not to create another bible college,” said Falwell Sr, quoted on Liberty University’s website. “The vision was to create academic excellence, world-class facilities, NCAA Division-One athletics, student activities, and to provide it all with a distinctly Christian environment.”

When Falwell Sr. passed away in 2007 at the age of 73, his sons took up his work. Jerry Falwell Jr. became the president of Liberty, while Jonathan Falwell became the senior pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church. Both men still hold those positions today.

Even though the University and its founder have been known to take an anti-LGBTQ stance, the school still welcomes students who are members of the LGBTQ community — as long as they obey the school’s guidelines.

Germanotta was raised in a Christian conservative household outside of Richmond in the Mechanicsville area. Despite the environment of their upbringing, Germanotta knew from an early point in their life that they were gay. 

“Whenever the fantasies about who I wanted to be with happened, it was always a guy. I’ve always had an open mind about things,” said Germanotta. “I just never expressed those views because of how my family environment was.” 

While Germanotta was in their senior year of high school, their parents made it clear that the only option for college they would support was a Christian one. They chose Liberty after making a friend group at “College for a Weekend,” where the school welcomes prospective students to spend four days attending classes, staying in dorms and eating in dining halls. 

During their first two semesters at the religious University, Germanotta enjoyed the friendships they made in addition to the education they were receiving. It wasn’t until their sophomore year when things began to become complicated.

Another student in a biology class asked Germanotta for their phone number so the two could study for an upcoming test. Once the other student discovered that both of them lived on East Campus, he suggested they meet in a treehouse, to which Germanotta agreed.

“He crawled in after me and asked all these questions about where I was from and if I was seeing anyone,” said Germanotta. 

After a while of questions and uncomfortable interaction, the other student got in front of Germanotta’s face and pulled down his pants, asking if they would give him a blowjob. Germanotta refused to perform the sexual act, pushed the other student away, and left the treehouse. 

Photo via Liberty University

Germanotta reported the incident both to his residence hall assistant and Title IX services. The University took no further action against the student who had harassed Germanotta, but moved him to a different dorm on campus. Title IX failed to act, both when Germanotta reported the incident in the treehouse and when their jacket was spray painted. 

Although Liberty University was apathetic about the harassment they had endured, the school did take action when they began showing their own homosexuality more overtly. 

Students at the fundamentalist Christian college are required to abide by their student honor code, termed the “Liberty Way.” Among the violations in the code is a prohibition against “sexual relations outside of a biblically-ordained marriage between a natural-born man and a natural-born woman.”

“They leave it specific enough to scare you but vague enough to do whatever they want,” said Germanotta.

During their time at Liberty, they had become involved in a secret romantic relationship with a male student from another college. When they posted a photo of the two of them kissing in front of a Christmas tree to their private instagram page, someone following them reported the photo to the school’s Residence Life office.

Germanotta’s response was to write the Residence Life office a letter saying they had been dared to kiss the other student. However, this didn’t dissuade the university’s pursuit of the matter, and eventually, they were required to meet with Pastors at the school’s Community Life office. The meeting pertained to a series of “red flag” behaviors that had been reported to school officials, pertaining to their actions and views on homosexuality.

“If, for example, I was in an old-testamant class and they brought up homosexuality and I wrote an essay about what I thought about it, versus what they wanted me to say about it, it would get a failing grade,” said Germanotta. “A lot of those little flags got sent to Residence Life.”

Germanotta was required to meet with Pastor Dane Emerick twice a week to look into what “god’s word” had to say about their behavior. When they began skipping their required meetings, the school sent him a voicemail threatening to drop them from a class. Germanotta decided they’d had enough.

“The environment there beyond the administration level is toxic,” they said. “I decided to drop out because I was tired of all the pressure that student conduct was putting on me.”

Jerry Falwell Sr. Photo By Liberty University, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia

Liberty University’s long history of holding anti-LGBTQ and other socially conservative views reflects the political orientation of both men who have presided over the school. Both Jerry Falwell Sr. and his son have been known to support right-wing politicians while denouncing liberal causes such as gay marriage and abortion. 

Days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, Falwell Sr. stated in a televised interview with fellow Virginia-based televangelist Pat Robertson, “I really believe that the 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 secularise America, I point the finger in their face and say, ‘You helped this happen.’”

In the late 1970s, Falwell Sr. launched the Moral Majority, a political organization which would become a driving force behind conservative politics in the ensuing decade. The organization lobbied on issues it believed were important to maintaining Christian moral law. 

Before the Moral Majority’s dissolution in the late 80s, the organization had over four million members and over two million donors. Falwell Sr. would go on to credit the Republican group with Ronald Reagan’s election victories. 

Prior to his political activism with the Moral Majority, Falwell Sr. made public comments about his skepticism toward civil rights activists. 

“I must personally say that I do question the sincerity and nonviolent 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.” said Jerry Falwell Sr. while giving a sermon in 1965. 

His son has followed in his father’s footsteps, supporting Republican causes while running the evangelical university. To the shock and disappointment of other Christian conservatives, Falwell Jr. endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, and has called conservatives critical of Trump “fake Republicans.”

Jerry Falwell Jr. Photo By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia

Some members of the LGBTQ community on Liberty’s campus have had a much more positive experience than Germanotta’s, despite some of the school’s history and policies. 

“When I first came to Liberty I was closeted, so the school’s history of LGBT issues never crossed my mind,” said Jonah Lackey, an LGBTQ student at Liberty majoring in Cinematic Arts.

Lackey contends that his experience at Falwell’s college has strengthened his faith and pride in being gay. Growing up in a Christian home made him believe that one would have to choose between being gay or being a Christian. But Lackey says that meeting other gay Christians on campus made him rethink the dichotomy and realize you can be both.

“Once my perspective changed from ‘being gay is a choice’ to ‘God made me gay’, my entire way of seeing the Bible in regards to this issue has changed,” said Lackey. “Issues with the school regarding the LGBT community are highly complex, but I think people would be surprised at the amount of staff who are loving and encouraging,”

According to Lackey, the stigma around homosexuality is changing dramatically among the younger student body, which is gradually creating a more inclusive and welcoming environment within the school.

“Now that homosexuality is being more widely excepted in American culture, people are starting to realize they know more gay people, and it’s causing them to re-examine their thoughts on the issue,” said Lackey. “For professors there’s still a negative sense, but I’m starting to see that less and less amongst students.”

Even Falwell Jr. has made small attempts to back away from his previously outspoken opposition to LGBTQ rights. In an appearance on Fox & Friends in 2019, he claimed he had never made any comment about gay rights, and that people misrepresent Liberty University as being anti-LGBTQ.

Weeks prior to his comments on the show, though, Falwell Jr. denied transgender identidies at a CPAC event, saying that God chooses the gender of people. These comments later sparked a small protest on Liberty’s campus, showing that things are indeed changing at the Christian university. For their part, though, Germanotta is still upset by Falwell Jr.’s continued comments.

“If you opened your mind as much as you opened your mouth we’d all be in a better place,” said Germanotta. “If you read some of the original Jewish or Greek translations of the bible, you might find something that’s a little different.”

Germanotta is currently studying studio arts at the University of Lynchburg with ambitions of a photography career. They are also minoring in gender studies, psychology, and business. 

“I don’t constantly look over my shoulder anymore,” said Germanotta. “I don’t have people looking at me with a funny face every time I wear makeup. I can do whatever I want to express my gender and I’m not belittled because of it.”

Top Photo via Liberty University

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