Jerry Falwell Gay Scandal-Liberty U. on News Lockdown

Nat'l Enquirer ^ | January 9, 2001 | Feature Story-Exclusive

[umbra]

University Is Buzzing as Young Pastor Resigns

A homosexual scandal is rocking Rev. Jerry Falwell's archconservative Liberty University, where rumours are rampant that male students engaged in gay sex with a campus pastor.

Scrambling to do damgae control, Falwell-an outspoken foe of homosexuality -slammed a news lid on his Lynchburg Va. campus.

When an ENQUIRER reporter contacted the university to ask about the sudden resignation of Eric Lovett, 29, assistant pastor in Liberty's spiritual life department, Falwell himself called back within minutes.

"While I have heard rumours, I myself have no knowledge, no personal knowledge, of any gay movement," said the 68-year old preacher.

Lovett vehemently denies being part of any gay ring and insists he is not homosexual, but Falwell told the ENQUIRER "I was told he has had problems in this area you speak of (homosexuality), but I myself have no personal knowledge of this.

[editor-surveyor]

National Enquirer, now there's a really reliable source!!!

I'd say that there's at least a .100 % chance that it's true.

[Soaring Feather]

Bound to happen, trying to smear our President and it has just begun in earnest. We ain't seen nothing yet.

[codebreaker]

But with David Kendall as counsel, I think that stories against right wing figures have an easier time getting printed .

Funny how we didn't hear about Chelsea's underage drinking in Aspen with her friends a couple of years ago, but Jenna is fair game.

[Orual]

...but by the second day of our calls, the lid of silence had slammed tight.

[twigs]

I did not read the article as carefully as I should have. If this is correct, then they are not behaving in a Biblical way. They are in a difficult position and I do not envy them. However, lying is wrong.

[1L]

I think the angle here is that Falwell knew something about this guy's battles with homsexuality in the past and still hired him to supervise young men in the Capus Life Office who may have been involved in this sex ring.

And why exactly would he have done that? If he wanted him there, why did he fire him? This makes no sense. What exactly did Falwell or the university do that is even remotely scandelous?

[RaceBannon]

Maybe the fundi's on this website will take a couple of hours off from bashing Catholics. (I doubt it)

Why? Are the Catholics jealous that they are losing media air time now or something? What was the point of your question again?

[GuillermoX]

Kendall is not their lawyer. The firm Kendall is with has another lawyer within it that reps them.

I doubt Kendall has any say in the stories they print or don't print.

[Revelation 911]

I'm not a Falwell fan

....and who is

[Saundra Duffy]

Who cares? The whole world has been turned upside down.

[Amore]

If the allegations are true, then the administration seriously errored when hiring this individual.

Where are you getting the idea that Falwell knew of this when he hired the guy? If he did know when he hired him, you're right, that would be a scandal. But I read the story and all it shows is that he BECAME aware of a problem. He then fired the guy. That's quite different. You can't impute knowledge he eventually gained to his knowledge at the time of hiring.

[JPR_Boise_ID]

I agree with your sentiments ... unfortunately the exact same statement can be made about the other side of the politcal spectrum.

[Amore]

Employers are limited by law as to what aspects of a potential employee's life they can dig into. Are you really suggesting, here on a conservative site, that an employer should make an extensive search, digging around in that potential employee's private sexual life? It would be one thing if there were a police record to be discovered or if he was an out-of-the-closet practicing homosexual, but by all accounts, that was NOT the case. (And BTW, I'm not a fan of Falwell's, but I like to be fair, and I don't see where he did anything wrong.)

[Arthur McGowan]

I didn't say it wasn't a scandal. But greater scandal is given by those who APPROVE of sin than by those who disapprove of it. A sex scandal is more JUICY and TITILLATING at a conservative, Christian college than at Sodomy State University, but it's not a greater scandal in objective reality.

[Sabertooth]

What's next, posts on FR from Weekly World News?

Would you believe... CNN?