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Eagle Forum

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Eagle Forum
Formation1972; 52 years ago (1972)
FounderPhyllis Schlafly
HeadquartersAlton, Illinois; Washington, D.C.
President
Kris Ullman
Revenue (2023)
$239,244[1]
Expenses (2023)$332,333[1]
Websitehttps://eagleforum.org/
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Eagle Forum is a conservative advocacy group in the United States founded by Phyllis Schlafly in 1972. Focused on social issues, it is socially conservative[2] and describes itself as pro-family.[3] Critics have described it as anti-feminist, anti-LGBT, ultraconservative, and far-right. A 501(c)(4) organization, it is affiliated with the Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and the Eagle Forum Political Action Committee (PAC).[4] It organizes the Eagle Council, an annual training for conservative speakers.[5]

After Eagle Forum endorsed Ted Cruz in the 2016 election, board members who supported the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign left the organization and founded Phyllis Schlafly Eagles,[6][7] a 501(c)(4), and Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle PAC.

History

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Advocacy against Equal Rights Amendment

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In 1967, Phyllis Schlafly launched the Eagle Trust Fund for receiving donations related to conservative causes.[4] After the 1972 proposal of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), Schlafly reorganized her efforts to defeat its ratification, founding the group "Stop ERA"[8] and starting the Eagle Forum Newsletter. In 1975 Stop ERA was renamed the Eagle Forum.[8]

The Eagle Forum was part of the New Right in the 1970s, which emphasized social issues important to the Christian right in the conservative movement.[9] A similar group, Concerned Women for America, formed in 1979, and both grew after the election of Ronald Reagan in 1981.[10]

The Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund was organized in 1981 as a non-profit wing of Eagle Forum.[11] It is a tax deductible charity under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code.

Post-ERA

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Since at least 1994, the Eagle Forum PAC has endorsed and donated money to right-wing candidates.[12]

In the mid-2000s, Eagle Forum, along with the John Birch Society, mobilized conservative opposition to a so-called North American Union and the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. As a result of two organizations' activities, 23 state legislatures saw bills introduced condemning an NAU while the Bush and Obama administrations were deterred “from any grand initiatives.”[13]

Eagle Forum members have often worked within the Republican Party. The Texas state Eagle Forum chairperson, Cathie Adams was named Republican national committeewoman from Texas at the state convention in 2008 and then in October 2009 was chosen as interim chairperson of the Republican Party of Texas.

Split

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Disputes among Eagle Forum leaders, including some of Schlafly's children, resulted in court battles starting in 2016.[14][15] Board members who supported the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign left the organization and founded Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, a different 501(c)(4) organization.[6][7] Phyllis Schlafly Eagles also established a political action committee, Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle PAC.[16]

Leaders of the organizations sued each other over use of organizational mailing lists, use of Schlafly's name and image, and related issues.[17][18] In 2017, Eagle Forum declared that Ed Martin, John Schlafly, Andy Schlafly, and Kathleen Sullivan no longer have any connection to Eagle Forum.[19]

Post-split

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Ed Martin, president of the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles and the Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund, served as the Republican National Committee deputy platform policy director in 2024.[20][21]

Project 2025 lists Eagle Forum as an advisory board member.[21]

Political and social positions

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The Eagle Forum is involved in conservative issues. The Eagle Forum supports English-only education in schools. It opposes federal support for daycare and sex education.[5]

Schlafly described the Eagle Forum as an alternative to women's liberation.[22] It is opposed to a number of feminist issues, which founder Phyllis Schlafly claimed were "extremely destructive" and "poisoned the attitudes of many young women." The organization believes only in a family consisting of a father, mother and children. They are supportive of women's right to choose to be "fulltime homemakers",[23] and oppose same-sex marriage. Eagle Forum is anti-abortion.[24] It has defended the push for government defunding of Planned Parenthood.[25]

Opposition to the ERA

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Symbol used for signs and buttons by ERA opponents

After gaining publicity for her book, A Choice, Not an Echo, Phyllis Schlafly began her fight against the ratification of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The ERA had passed in the United States House of Representatives by a vote of 354 to 23. Five months later, the amendment passed in the Senate with a vote of 84 to 8, and 7 members abstaining. In order to be adopted into the Constitution, the amendment had to be ratified by three-fourths (38) of the states. Schlafly then reorganized her efforts to defeat its ratification, founding the group "STOP ERA" and starting the Eagle Forum Newsletter. STOP ERA was established in the fall of 1972 an organization dedicated to the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment. The group's name is an acronym for the phrase "Stop Taking Our Privileges".[26]

In one issue of the Eagle Forum Newsletter, titled "Whats Wrong With Equal Rights for Women", Schlafly argued against the ratification of the ERA on the basis that it would take rights and protections away from women. According to Schlafly, the passage of the ERA could "mean Government-funded abortions, homosexual schoolteachers, women forced into military combat and men refusing to support their wives." The newsletter began to circulate, and many conservative women wrote to their legislators, relaying the concerns voiced by Schlafly in the Eagle Forum Newsletter.[27] Support for The Eagle Forum grew with the support of many conservative women and various church groups, as did the opposition to the ERA. Many of the same women who had helped Schlafly distribute her book were involved with STOP ERA. Less than a year after its creation, STOP ERA had grown to several thousand members.[26]

State legislators were able to vote on the ERA beginning in March 1972 and were given a deadline in 1979. Within a year, thirty states had ratified the ERA, and the amendment needed only eight more states to pass. In 1977, STOP ERA protested the Equal Rights Amendment at the 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas. STOP ERA claimed that the national plan of action that was proposed at the conference was “anti-family". At the conference, Phyllis Schlafly teamed up with Indiana State Senator Joan Gubbins to form a "pro-life, pro-family" coalition to voice the conservative opposition to the ERA.[28] Schlafly also testified against the potentially harmful effects of the ERA before Georgia, Virginia, Missouri, and Arkansas legislatures. STOP ERA's tactics were successful; by the 1979 deadline the amendment still needed three states to pass. The ERA was then given a three-year extension, during which no states ratified or rescinded the amendment. By the time of the ERA's defeat, the Eagle Forum had reached 50,000 members.[26]

Since its initial defeat, the Equal Rights Amendment has been revisited by legislators, such as Carolyn Maloney.[29] In March 2021, a United States Federal court ruled that the window of time to ratify the ERA had expired and recent efforts by Nevada, Illinois and Virginia to support ratification are "too late to count".[30]

Programs and activities

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The Forum has a "Teen Eagles" program for children ages 13–19, and "Eagle Forum Collegians" for conservative-minded college students.[5] Phyllis Schlafly's son, Andrew Schlafly, started Conservapedia, a wiki-based encyclopedia project, with students from an "Eagle Forum University" project.[31]

There are also state chapters of the Eagle Forum, such as the Utah Eagle Forum led by Gayle Ruzicka.[32][33]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Eagle Forum". ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. December 2023. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  2. ^ Kornfield, Meryl; Knowles, Hannah; Cheeseman, Abbie (2024-07-17). "Republicans approve new platform with revised abortion position". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  3. ^ Reischman, Collin (2015-02-02). "Martin will not seek MRP Chairman post". The Missouri Times. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  4. ^ a b Eagle Trust Fund v. United States Postal Service, et al., 19-5090, 41a (United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit June 23, 2020).
  5. ^ a b c Ford, Lynne E. (12 May 2010). Encyclopedia of Women and American Politics. p. 158. ISBN 9781438110325. Retrieved 2012-03-26.
  6. ^ a b Moseley, Brandon (28 May 2020). "Phyllis Schlafly Eagles' President Ed Martin endorses Bill Hightower for Congress". Alabama Political Reporter. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Annual Eagle Council honors Phyllis Schlafly with three days of far-right conspiracy theories". Southern Poverty Law Center. September 19, 2018. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  8. ^ a b Diamond, Sara (Sara Rose) (1995). Roads to dominion: right-wing movements and political power in the United States. Internet Archive. New York : Guilford Press. ISBN 978-0-89862-862-3.
  9. ^ Meagher, Richard (2009-06-10). "Remembering the New Right: Political Strategy and the Building of the GOP Coalition". Political Research Associates.
  10. ^ Cuniberti, Betty (1985-10-02). "Other Voices Crying Out Against the Feminists : Concerned Women for America at 2nd Convention Join Other Conservatives". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  11. ^ Eagle Forum v. Phyllis Schlafly's Am. Eagles, 451 F. Supp. 3d 910 (United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois Apr 1, 2020).
  12. ^ Rivenburg, Roy (1996-07-02). "Gale-Force Phyllis". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  13. ^ Pastor, Robert (2011). The North American Idea: A Vision of a Continental Future. New York: Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 11, 76. ISBN 978-0-19-978241-3. OCLC 741646639.
  14. ^ Bernthal, Jeff (April 26, 2016). "Eagle Forum split lands in court". FOX 2. Archived from the original on April 29, 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  15. ^ Dunn, Rachael Herndon (2016-04-29). "Ed Martin tries to drag Roe into Eagle Forum mess". The Missouri Times. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  16. ^ McDermott, Kevin (2016-09-13). "Eagle Forum board members accuse Martin of trying to 'monetize' Schlafly's name in wake of her death". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  17. ^ Kohler, Jeremy (October 22, 2016). "Judge orders shakeup of Schlafly's Eagle Forum". Salina Journal. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  18. ^ Mannies, Jo (2017-01-03). "Battle over Phyllis Schlafly's legacy intensifies, with her children at the center". STLPR. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  19. ^ Montgomery, Peter (2018-07-27). "Eagle Forum Slams Competitor For Using Phyllis Schlafly Name While Supporting Pro-Choice Candidate". Right Wing Watch. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  20. ^ Mannies, Jo (2017-01-03). "Battle over Phyllis Schlafly's legacy intensifies, with her children at the center". St. Louis Public Radio (STLPR). Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  21. ^ a b Steakin, Will; Kim, Soo Rin (July 9, 2024). "Trump is trying to distance himself from Project 2025 -- but its architects helped shape his RNC party platform". ABC News. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  22. ^ Sullivan, Patricia (2016-09-05). "Phyllis Schlafly, political activist who helped push GOP to the right, dead at 92". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  23. ^ "Join Eagle Forum and Phyllis Schlafly -- Join Eagle Forum so you will have a voice at the U.S. Capitol and at State Capitols". www.eagleforum.org. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  24. ^ Kornfield, Meryl; Knowles, Hannah; Cheeseman, Abbie (2024-07-17). "Republicans approve new platform with revised abortion position". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  25. ^ "Planned Parenthood's Odious Activities - Eagle Forum". Eagle Forum. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  26. ^ a b c Critchlow, Donald T. (2005-01-01). Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism: A Woman's Crusade. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691070024. stop%2520era.
  27. ^ "Phyllis Schlafly". MAKERS. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  28. ^ MAULDIN, COTTRELL, DEBBIE. "NATIONAL WOMEN'S CONFERENCE, 1977". tshaonline.org. Retrieved 2015-12-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ "Equal Rights Amendment". Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  30. ^ Stracqualursi, Veronica (2021-03-07). "Federal judge says deadline to ratify ERA 'expired long ago' in setback to advocates' efforts". ABC7 Chicago. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
  31. ^ Vettese, Troy. "What's the Difference Between Wikipedia and Conservapedia?". History News Network. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  32. ^ Schott, Bryan (January 10, 2022). "Eagle Forum conference helps inject fringe ideas into Utah's political mainstream". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  33. ^ Robinson, Doug (2004-11-07). "Eagle eye: Moral crusader Ruzicka wields 'phone tree'". Deseret News. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
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