1054 ★ CHAPTER 26 The Triumph of Conservatism
pro- family, pro- America” candidates to office. Falwell identified supporters of
abortion rights, easy divorce, and “military unpreparedness” as the forces of
Satan.
Christian conservatives seemed most agitated by the ongoing sexual rev-
olution, which they saw as undermining the traditional family and promot-
ing immorality. As a result of the 1960s, they believed, American freedom was out
of control. The growing assertiveness of the new gay movement spurred an espe-
cially fierce reaction. In 1977, after a campaign led by the popular singer Anita
Bryant, a familiar fixture in televised orange juice commercials, Dade County,
Florida, passed an anti- gay ordinance under the banner “Save Our Children.”
The Battle over the Equal Rights Amendment
During the 1970s, “family values” moved to the center of conservative politics,
nowhere more so than in the battle over the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
Originally proposed during the 1920s by Alice Paul and the Woman’s Party, the
ERA had been revived by second- wave feminists. In the wake of the rights rev-
olution, the amendment’s affirmation that “equality of rights under the law”
could not be abridged “on account of sex” hardly seemed controversial. In 1972,
with broad bipartisan support, Congress approved the ERA and sent it to the
states for ratification. Designed to eliminate obstacles to the full participation
of women in public life, it aroused unexpected protest from those who claimed
it would discredit the role of wife and homemaker.
The ERA debate reflected a division among women as much as a battle of
the sexes. To its supporters, the amendment offered a guarantee of women’s
freedom in the public sphere. To its foes, freedom for women still resided in
the divinely appointed roles of wife and mother. Phyllis Schlafly, who helped
to organize opposition to the ERA, insisted that the “free enterprise sys-
tem” was the “real liberator of women,” since labor- saving home appliances
offered more genuine freedom than “whining about past injustices” or seek-
ing fulfillment outside the home. Opponents claimed that the ERA would
let men “off the hook” by denying their responsibility to provide for their wives
and children. Polls consistently showed that a majority of Americans, male
and female, favored the ERA. But thanks to the mobilization of conservative
women, the amendment failed to achieve ratification by the required thirty-
eight states.
The Abortion Controversy
An even more acrimonious battle emerged in the 1970s over abortion rights,
another example, to conservatives, of how liberals in office promoted sexual
immorality at the expense of moral values. The movement to reverse the 1973