The Wisdom of Phyllis Schlafly

If Republicans cave on same sex marriage, they will lose their base and the "party" will be over. Phyllis Schlafly knows this and Republicans would do well to listen to her. Drawing a line in the sand, Schlafly, a member of the 2012 Platform Committee, has written a letter to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus with this warning:

"We expect all Republican officials to support the Platform. The endorsement of same-sex marriage is not acceptable...We call on the Republican National Committee to consider passing a resolution, at its next meeting, re-affirming its support of the Platform and of the Defense of Marriage Act, which was overwhelmingly passed by Congress."

Vice-President Dick Cheney, General Colin Powell, and an impressive list of other Republicans disagree. 100 of them signed a legal brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn California's Proposition 8, a voter initiative limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

But according to a recent FOX Poll, 66% of Republican voters oppose same-sex marriage while Americans in general are evenly split. The pressure is on. The party divided. So what's a party out of power to do?

And who is Phyllis Schlafly that Republican celebrities should listen? A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Washington University School of Law, one of the first female students to complete a Masters degree in Political Science at Harvard, her early interest in public policy was with nuclear disarmament. But she was thrust into the public eye when radical lesbian feminists, throwing blood on the Capitol steps in Springfield, Illinois, made her mad enough to confront their demands and become a spokesman for millions of American women. The "Equal Rights Amendment" intended to strip women of all gender distinctions from marriage law to wartime combat.

Explaining that "equality" did not mean "sameness," Phyllis rightly understood the ERA was a precursor to the current confusion on gender differences. Because of her valiant leadership, it did not pass in Illinois, thus preventing it from becoming Federal Law. But the radical feminist view of the world was implemented through the classroom and the media. Protective barriers were broken and bright lines between men and women were eradicated.

Phyllis founded Eagle Forum and became a staunch and powerful arm of the Reagan Revolution. She has been a delegate to the Republican Convention every year since 1952 and a major voice on the party platform since 1980.

Exactly! some would say: a voice from the past is not the GOP's future. According to FOX, 60% of voters under the age of 45 favor same sex marriage while 57% of those over 45 oppose it.

"For young people especially (and I'm almost talking under age forty here) gay marriage is a fait accompli," observed former PJ Media CEO Roger Simon. But while Republican pragmatists hold their finger to the wind, they should hold it up in one of the bluest states in America.

In Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Attorney General Lisa Madigan and father, Speaker of the House, Michael Madigan, along with Democratic majorities in both houses in Springfield, plus Pat Brady, the Republican Party Chairman, the President of the United States and the entire body of Chicago media are all loudly, aggressively pushing gay-marriage. Gay rights advocates tried to pass legislation during the Lame Duck Session, setting wheels in motion the Friday before Christmas 2012. Family groups, in the midst of their Christmas celebrations unexpectedly fought back. They formed what proved to be the very effective "Coalition to Protect Children and Marriage," so that the legislature didn't have the support to even bring it up for a vote.

The newly elected Illinois Senate passed SB10 handily, but in preparation for a vote in the House, traditional families descended on the Capitol -- nearly 5,000 strong. Catholics, Evangelicals and Orthodox Jews rallied, and expert witnesses were brought to testify. For the first time in most of their lives, legislators heard the other side of the same-sex marriage story from a former lesbian, a professional family expert, and an impassioned black pastor. They heard what they have never heard on television or at the movies or in their public schools for the past twenty years; that same-sex marriage is harmful, especially to children. It robs them of the basic need to have a mother and a father.

As legislators listened, minds began to change. What was expected to be an 8-4 slam-dunk in committee became a squeak-by majority of one. The fight in Illinois is not over and if there is a vote, it will be close. But the fact that there is a fight is the untold story.

Now GOP leader Pat Brady is under fire for his support of same-sex marriage. The catalyst for Schlafly's letter to Reince Priebus was the Republican Party Chair's intention to attend a Brady-sponsored luncheon in Illinois. The luncheon was abruptly canceled.

General Powell and the others should educate themselves on the real costs of homosexual marriage to society. One can only look to Massachusetts to see the devastating effects of gay marriage and the LGBT movement on public schools where children are encouraged to change genders without parental approval or knowledge, and public school girls' bathrooms are accessible to boys who think they are girls.

If this madness is what General Powell or Dick Cheney want for their grandchildren in the misguided notion of "fairness," then so be it. But when one day, the other side of this sordid story is told, they will be glad the wisdom of Phyllis Schlafly prevailed and not their fickle, feckless leadership in dangerous times.