It would be nice...

[terrya]

to think that the kind of bigotry and hate as preached by Falwell will die out when people like him are gone. Not a comment on his death, per se. But I'm cautiously hopeful that we are slowly...emphasis on slowly...becoming a more accepting country of gay people.

[Crankie Avalon]

1. There will always be people just like Falwell to step into his place...

...but I don't think he, and whomever his successors will be, are nearly as influential as cable tv news outlets like to make him out to be. He was an outrageous, entertaining-in-his-way boor who said whatever popped into his fool and hateful head and therefore perfect for short cable tv segments. He was a carnival sideshow geek biting the heads off of chickens. He was being kept in the public eye more by the design of the media than by the actual will of a significant segment of the public.

The majority of the public will come around on gays like they did on civil rights for African-Americans. I say majority, because there will always be a small group who will remain unchanged and will seek "sanctuaries" where they can commiserate about how their idea of the world has gone to hell in a handbasket (Free Republic, Aryan Nation website, etc)