Feminists Try to Stamp Out the Radical Truth
August 26 is the 75th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Women’s Suffrage Amendment. Women had the right to vote in about half the states prior to the passage of this constitutional amendment in 1920, and the Women’s Suffrage Amendment forbade any state thereafter to deny women the right to vote. August 26 is an anniversary worth celebrating and honoring with a U.S. Postage Stamp. But the feminists have subverted this anniversary into propaganda for radical feminist goals and revisionist history. They got the United States Postal Service (which is supposed to be non-political) to issue a postage stamp giving equal billing to both the August 26 anniversary and the disgusting demon stration in Springfield, Illinois on May 16, 1976 in support of the failed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
That 1976 gathering of radical feminists had absolutely nothing to do with women’s suffrage — it happened 56 years after all American women had the right to vote. Contrary to the Postal Service’s news release (issued with feminists Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-CO) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) looking on), the 1976 demonstration was not a “milestone” — it was not a significant event, it did not establish or reverse any law or policy, it did not change anything at all. The cause for which the demonstrators marched was a total failure. That event should not be honored on a U.S. postage stamp.
Reproduced on this page is a picture of the postage stamp that goes on sale on August 26. It’s rather incoherent and hard to figure out, even in this enlargement. The biggest sign pictured on the stamp says “Springfield N.O.W. Welcomes You” — and, indeed, the ultra-feminist National Organization for Women was the organizer of the demonstration. Now that you’ve seen the picture, you don’t need to buy the stamp, and it might be a good idea to reject any letter that uses it. The unsold stamps can then be stored in the same building in Washington, D.C. that houses the Susan B. Anthony dollars — another attempt by the radical feminists to impose their ideology on us that was rejected by the American people. On page 2 of this Report are reproduced just a few of the many authentic pictures taken during the May 16, 1976 demonstration. The demonstrators included large numbers o f lesbian activists, socialists, government employees, unkempt radicals, and college students who were encouraged to come to Spring- field, Illinois on subsidized buses from campuses all over the country. These pictures more accurately reflect the kinds of people who partici pated than the carefully staged picture used on the new postage stamp. The May 16 demonstration was the first of many pro-ERA demonstrations at the Illinois State Capitol, which became more radical with each passing year. On page 3 of this Report are reproduced a few of the many pictures taken at the pro-ERA demonstrations in Springfield, Illinois in May 1980. The pictures look very similar to the 1976 pictures; the demonstration probably included many of the same radicals.
By 1982, the demonstrators had became downright bizarre, and two of the many pictures taken then are reproduced on page 4 of this Report. For weeks, a “chain gang” of pro-ERAers chained themselves to the door of the Senate Chamber on the third floor so that Senators had to step over them to go into the session. On June 25, 1982, ERA supporters went to the slaughterhouse, got plastic bags of pigs’ blood, and used it to deface our flags and to write on the marble floor the names of the legislators they hated the most. Despite the many pro-ERA demonstrations in Illinois, the Illinois Legislature never ratified ERA, although it was forced to vote on ERA every year for eleven years (1972-1982). Illinois consistently rejected ERA because the people of Illinois didn’t want it passed and were disgusted by the tactics of those who supported it. It is outrageous that the U.S. Postal Service is honoring a pro-ERA demonstration in Springfield along with the commemoration of the Women’s Suffrage Amendment. This is a blatant attempt by liberal/feminist revisionists to rewrite history in order to advance their own agenda. The pro-ERA demonstrations were not for women having the right to vote. They were designed to intimidate lawmakers into putting the radical feminist agenda into the U.S. Constitution.
Fortunately, they failed. Neither ERA nor the radicals who supported it deserve to be commemorated on a postage stamp. Meanwhile, the feminists and ultra-liberals are trying to climb on the anniversary of the 19th Amendment by another roüte in order to promote the Equal Rights Amendment. With 26 co-sponsors, Rep. Robert E. Andrews (D-NJ) has introduced H. Res 39 to pass another crooked time extension for ratification of ERA. This is a prime example of the dishonesty of the pro-ERAers and their disdain for the United States Constitution. ERA died on June 30, 1982, and it should be allowed to rest in peace.
