page_title: Jerry Falwell Sr.
section_title: Falwell versus Jerry Sloan
hierarchical_section_title: Jerry Falwell Sr. / Legal issues / Falwell versus Jerry Sloan
caption_attribution_description: English: Jerry Falwell, evangelical and leader of the Moral Majority - Tallahassee, Florida
context_page_description: Jerry Lamon Falwell Sr. was an American Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia. He founded Lynchburg Christian Academy in 1967, founded Liberty University in 1971, and co-founded the Moral Majority in 1979.
  On May 15, 2007, Falwell died suddenly of cardiac arrhythmia in his office at Liberty University at the age of 73. He was buried on the grounds of the university.
context_section_description: In 1984, Falwell was ordered to pay gay rights activist and former Baptist Bible College classmate Jerry Sloan $5,000 after losing a court battle. In July 1984 during a TV debate in Sacramento, California, Falwell denied calling the homosexual-friendly Metropolitan Community Churches "brute beasts" and "a vile and Satanic system" that will "one day be utterly annihilated and there will be a celebration in heaven".
  When Sloan insisted he had a tape, Falwell promised $5,000 if he could produce it. Sloan did, Falwell refused to pay, and Sloan successfully sued. The money was donated to build Sacramento's first homosexual community center, the Lambda Community Center, serving "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex" communities. Falwell appealed the decision with his attorney charging that the Jewish judge in the case was prejudiced. He lost again and was made to pay an additional $2,875 in sanctions and court fees.
caption: Jerry Falwell in Tallahassee, Florida
exif: {}