"I believe that all of us are born heterosexual, physically created with a plumbing that's heterosexual, and created with the instincts and desires that are basically, fundamentally, heterosexual"
About this Quote
The subtext is a moral argument smuggled in as anatomy. If heterosexuality is the default setting, then everything else becomes a deviation: a malfunction, a temptation, a symptom of cultural decay. Falwell’s phrasing also performs a preemptive rebuttal to gay rights claims emerging into mainstream politics. In the late 1970s through the 1990s, as the Moral Majority and its successors mobilized evangelical voters, “nature” language became a strategic bridge: it let religious conservatives argue in secular public terms without quoting scripture. “Instincts and desires” expands the claim from bodies to psychology, turning heterosexuality into an all-encompassing human baseline rather than one orientation among others.
Context matters because Falwell’s project was political as much as pastoral. This sentence aims to stabilize a social order - family structure, gender roles, authority - by framing it as physical fact. Its rhetorical power comes from flattening complexity: if sexuality is just “plumbing,” then debate looks unnecessary, and dissent can be dismissed as willful rebellion against design.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Falwell, Jerry. (2026, January 16). I believe that all of us are born heterosexual, physically created with a plumbing that's heterosexual, and created with the instincts and desires that are basically, fundamentally, heterosexual. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-believe-that-all-of-us-are-born-heterosexual-91612/
Chicago Style
Falwell, Jerry. "I believe that all of us are born heterosexual, physically created with a plumbing that's heterosexual, and created with the instincts and desires that are basically, fundamentally, heterosexual." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-believe-that-all-of-us-are-born-heterosexual-91612/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I believe that all of us are born heterosexual, physically created with a plumbing that's heterosexual, and created with the instincts and desires that are basically, fundamentally, heterosexual." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-believe-that-all-of-us-are-born-heterosexual-91612/. Accessed 28 Feb. 2026.






