The mere mention of his name used to make my skin crawl. Smug, holier-than-thou, paunchy and capable of spewing out anti-gay rhetoric faster than a speeding bullet, he represents the complete embodiment of everything bad about evangelicals.

Over the past few decades, he’s been responsible for some of the most outrageous and damaging comments — many directed at the LGBT community.

But, what has he done lately? At 72, is he still a danger to our community?

On the Lawrence v. Texas case that overturned sodomy laws across the country:

“This is probably as bad a day as the court has had on social issues since Roe v. Wade.”

On turning America into a Theocracy:

“I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won’t have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!”

“There is no separation of church and state. Modern U.S. Supreme Courts have raped the Constitution and raped the Christian faith and raped the churches by misinterpreting what the Founders had in mind in the First Amendment to the Constitution.”

“We must never allow our children to forget that this is a Christian nation. We must take back what is rightfully ours.”

About AIDS:

“AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”

“AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharoah’s chariotters.”

Interpreting the Bible:

“The Bible is the inerrant ... word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible, without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc.”

On Judaism:

“The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior.”

The American Civil Liberties Union:

“The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews.”

On MCC:

Falwell referred to the the gay-oriented Metropolitan Community Churches as “brute beasts” and “a vile and Satanic system” that will “one day be utterly annihilated and there will be a celebration in heaven.”

On 9/11:

“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 try to secularize America...I point the thing in their face and say you helped this happen.”

On gays and lesbians:

“[Vice President Gore] recently praised the lesbian actress who plays ‘Ellen’ on ABC Television...I believe he may even put children, young people, and adults in danger by his public endorsement of deviant homosexual behavior...Our elected leaders are attempting to glorify and legitimize perversion.”

“We cannot allow homosexuality to be presented to our nation as an alternative lifestyle. It will not only have a corrupting influence upon our next generation, but it will also bring down the wrath of God upon America.”

“Someone must not be afriad to say, ‘moral perversion is wrong.’ If we do not act now, homosexuals will ‘own’ America!...If you and I do not speak up now, this homosexual steamroller will literally crush all decent men, women, and children who get in its way...and our nation will pay a terrible price!”

On religious freedom:

“If you’re not a born-again Christian, you’re a failure as a human being.”

Some of Falwell’s comments in recent years have given many Americans reason to believe the man has more than just a few screws loose. Who could forget Falwell referring to Ellen DeGeneres as “Ellen DeGenerate” or insisting that the “Teletubbie” TV character “Tinky Winky” was gay because he was purple, carried a purse and had an inverted triangle on his head?

At a pastors’ conference in Kingsport, Tenn., he announced that the Antichrist prophesied in the Bible is alive today and then added, “of course he’ll be Jewish.”

There’s no question that Falwell still commands a huge following, though it is clearly not as strong as it once was. With the recent retirement announcement from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Falwell has once again raised the flag for the evangelical call to arms with a petition on his website.

The petition reads:

Dear President Bush, With the sudden resignation of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, I humbly join with Dr. Jerry Falwell and millions of members and supporters of the Moral Majority Coalition in letting you know of our prayers for you at this critical time. I encourage you to remember your promise to nominate a justice who will strongly uphold and defend the constitution, rather than attempt to legislate from the bench.

Furthermore, I call on you to appoint a justice who is committed to the sanctity of life, both born and unborn and marriage as an institution designed by God for one man and one woman. Although your political enemies will use this occasion to put immense pressure on you to compromise your principles, please know that millions of Americans stand behind you as you defend the family and our traditional Judeo-Christian values.

Do I believe that Jerry Falwell is still relevant today and still a threat to millions of gay and lesbian Americans? I’d like to chuckle and just call him a crazy old fool. Such efforts as the one above and the minions he has inspired to carry on his work do indeed make Falwell a serious concern.

It is our job, however, to teach America that all people, despite their differences, must live side by side in respect and equality. Individuals like Falwell must be exposed as the true enemy of the people that they are.

Their continued call for a society governed by the text of the King James Bible threatens to destroy everything America stands for.