Why does a hate group want to derail the ERA in Illinois?

The movement to ratify the ERA amendment in Illinois is gaining critical mass and supporters believe the spring legislative season in the Illinois General Assembly may finally be the opportunity to pass the bill in the Senate and House.

Illinois Senate bill SJRCA4 proposes to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in Illinois. If Illinois passes the bill, only one other state would be needed to ratify to make it the 28th Amendment. The text is just twenty-four words:

“Equality of rights under law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.​”

It seems rather simple, right? Who can argue that protecting gender equality under our federal constitution is the right and just thing to do, and it’s more than past time to do the right and just thing for women in the United States.

However, there is a group that wants to argue about women being protected under the Constitution and to do so they are making specious and false claims about the ERA to their members, Illinois legislators and the general public.

The Illinois Family Institute has used their membership to spread articles full of illogical arguments and false facts to unsuspecting citizens in Illinois.

Recently in a downstate publication, The Madison Record, Nancy Thorner, a member of IFI, wrote a scare piece that claimed passing the ERA will create a gender-free society where it won’t be natural for women to be homemakers any longer. I direct you back to the wording of the proposed amendment calling for equal rights under the law. Women having equal protection under the law does not mean women can’t be homemakers, nor does it create a gender-free society.

Ms. Thorner also claimed that citizens should have a sense of urgency and outrage that the ERA may pass in Illinois and urged them to call their legislators. In another piece for the Illinois Review, Ms. Thorner writes that women and all our unborn children will be irreparably harmed by the ERA. Again, I refer readers back to the actual wording of the amendment, equality of rights under the law not to be denied or abridged on account of sex. Rational thought would posit that women having equal protection under the law only improves society and moves us toward progress.

At this point it is necessary to point out that the Illinois Family Institute is categorized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. IFI once posted a video attacking school anti-bullying programs and in that video claimed that a gay men’s median age of death is 42. They have compared homosexuality to Nazism and demanded the closing of all “homosexual establishments”.

Thus, giving any credence to their claims that the ERA is dangerous for women would be foolhardy, and any Illinois citizen or legislator who uses their arguments against the ERA is dealing in false facts and illogical arguments from a group that purposefully pushes a hateful agenda.

April 10th is lobby day in Illinois for the ERA and it’s possible that there may be a vote in the Senate on that day. If it passes in the Senate it will then go to the House to be passed. The IFI has increased their attacks because they know that momentum is behind passage. They should not be allowed to spread their hateful rhetoric as if they have legitimate opposition arguments. They may be entitled to an opinion, but they are not entitled to their own set of facts, and the fact is all the ERA does is grant equal protection to women under the U.S. Constitution.

Women are using their voices to be heard across the country on a wide range of policy issues, including the #metoo and #timesup movement which among many positive results has shed much greater light on the discrimination women face in our society. Women deserve to have equal protection codified into federal law. Now is time for the ERA to finally pass in Illinois.

If you’d like to be involved in the efforts to pass the ERA in Illinois please go to eraillinois.org.