Jerry Falwell Jr.

Jerry Lamon Falwell Jr. (born June 17, 1962) is an American attorney, former academic administrator, and evangelical.

Jerry Falwell Jr. was born on June 17, 1962, the eldest son of Jerry Sr. and Macel Falwell (née Pate).

He attended private schools in the Lynchburg area, including Lynchburg Christian Academy (later renamed as Liberty Christian Academy), from where he graduated in 1980.

In 1981, in a letter asking for support in keeping his "Old-Time Gospel Hour" television program on the air, Falwell spoke out against the "Homosexual Revolution", saying "With God as my witness, I pledge that I’ll continue to expose the sin of homosexuality to the people of this nation. I believe that the massive homosexual revolution is always a symptom of a nation coming under the judgement of God."

He then attended Liberty University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in history and religious studies in 1984, and the University of Virginia School of Law, where he obtained a Juris Doctor in 1987.

From 1987 until 2007, Falwell served in private practice in Virginia and as the lawyer for Liberty University and its related organizations.

In October 1999, at the invitation of his longstanding friend, Soulforce founder Mel White, Falwell hosted a meeting of 200 gays and lesbians and 200 members of his own congregation in Lynchburg, in a debate over gay rights.

Falwell said during the meeting that his views about homosexuality were unchanged, but that he would moderate his rhetoric.

In the follow-up Frontline interview, Falwell echoed views declared by his father that homosexuality was a sin "forbidden by the Bible", and said that "ex-gays" had said, "They believe that they chose in and they chose out."

He joined the Board of Trustees of the university in 2000.

As part of a succession plan the elder Falwell laid out before his death, Jerry Jr. was to be entrusted with Liberty University while Jerry Sr.'s other son, Jonathan Falwell, inherited the ministry at Thomas Road Baptist Church.

The decisions were rooted in each's personality: Jerry Jr. had aggressive business instincts, and Jonathan was more charismatic and interested in ministry.

Beginning in 2001, Falwell had established two companies for the purpose of making property deals with Liberty-affiliated nonprofits, and his two sons and their wives were on Liberty's payroll.

Starting with his 2007 appointment upon the death of his father, televangelist and conservative activist Jerry Falwell Sr., Falwell served as the president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, until resigning in August 2020 amidst a sex scandal.

This succession plan took effect when Jerry Sr. died in 2007.

Under Falwell Jr., Liberty University came under scrutiny for its alleged authoritarian control over employees and students, nepotism toward Falwell family-owned businesses in the school's investments, and increasing influence of Falwell's wife Becki in school affairs.

In April 2009, following the Miss USA same-sex marriage controversy, Falwell offered a full scholarship to Carrie Prejean, a beauty pageant contestant who stated during the Miss USA pageant: "Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. You know what, in my country, in my family, I think I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that's how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman."In August 2013, Falwell announced that if the federal government forced recipients of its aid to comply with LGBTQ discrimination protections, he would forgo the money.

In November 2016, Falwell said that President-elect Donald Trump had offered him the position of United States secretary of education, but that he had turned down the offer citing personal reasons and because he did not want to leave Liberty University for more than two years.

In January 2017, Falwell said that he had been asked by President Trump to head a task force on reforms for the United States Department of Education.

In June 2017, Falwell confirmed to the Chronicle of Higher Education that he would be one of 15 college presidents participating in the task force.

The task force was never formed.

A 2019 Politico article described the university as a "dictatorship" in which Falwell ruled through fear; it also reported that the university had sold merchandise promoting Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and that Falwell Jr. had crude discussions about his sex life at work and had shown other Liberty employees provocative photos of his wife.

Falwell's leadership also came under fire in a letter signed by members of Congress, Andy Levin and Jamie Raskin, to Betsy DeVos, which claimed that Falwell personally blocked students from writing student columns critical of Trump.

A Reuters investigation, published in August 2019, alleged that Falwell signed a real estate deal in 2016 that transferred the university's sports facilities to his personal trainer, who did not put down any money for the deal.

The publication reported that instead, Liberty immediately paid almost $650,000 to the trainer, who now owned the property, to lease the property for nine years.

In March 2019, Falwell again caused controversy among LGBT advocates at Liberty University when he said his granddaughter would be "raised according to her God-given gender".

On August 7, 2020, Falwell took an indefinite leave of absence from his positions at Liberty University following controversy around a photo he had posted on social media, which showed him with his pants unzipped and his arm around the waist of a woman whose shorts were similarly unzipped.

On August 23, Falwell made a public statement that his wife had had an affair and that they had been targets of blackmail.

The next day Reuters published a story in which the man with whom Falwell's wife had an affair claimed that Falwell regularly watched him engaging in sexual activities with Falwell's wife.

Later in the day, on August 24, Falwell agreed to resign from Liberty University.

Falwell immediately denied this, while the university claimed that negotiations were ongoing.

On August 25, both Falwell and Liberty University confirmed that he had resigned.

Because he is leaving his position without a formal accusation or admission of wrongdoing, Falwell will receive a $10.5million severance package.

After his departure, Liberty opened an investigation into his past personal entanglement in the school's finances and real estate.

Transactions that personally benefit an individual could jeopardize Liberty's tax-exempt status.

In October 2020, Falwell sued Liberty University for damaging his reputation, but in December 2020 dropped the lawsuit.

On April 15, 2021, Liberty University sued Falwell for $40 million in damages for breach of contract and violation of fiduciary duty.

In November 2021, Falwell revived his defamation lawsuit against Liberty University.

Falwell has also sued the University in an attempt to receive $8.5 million in retirement funds, claiming that he met every requirement agreed upon in the Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan to receive payment.

He would go on to sue the school again for the alleged exploitation of the trademark and image of his father, Jerry Falwell Sr., without consulting the Falwell family or "authorization of the Dr. Jerry L. Falwell Family Trust."