Schlafly, at K-School, Denounces ERA

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) critic Phyllis Schlafly charged last night that supporters of the ERA are "working to use the power of government as compulsion to take away our free choice and promote a gender-free society."

Speaking before a hostile crowd of 350 at the Kennedy School of Government, Schlafly said the ERA would end all "reasonable distinctions" between the sexes.

Drafting women would be the "cutting edge" of the ERA's passage, she said, adding that she fears women will serve in combat when the army becomes "fully sex-integrated."

In an interview with the Crimson before her speech, Schlafly, who holds and M.A. from Harvard, said that by making laws "sex-netural" the ERA would deprive housewives of legal rights without helping career women.

Schlafly, a member of the Illinois bar, said she supports women who want a carcer, but feels the ERA would deprive women of their "freedom to choose a role" by abolishing laws forcing a husband to support his wife.

There is now little discrimination against women because they are protected by such laws as the 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act, she said.

Frequently interrupted by shouting and hissing from the audience, Schlafly said women are "learning what non- discrimination means," as preferential treatment ends in such areas as military service and insurance rates.

She added that the armed forces would suffer if women are used in military service because wars "are won with young men."

She said publishers' lists of unacceptable "sexist" terms were part of a 'ruthless Gestapo-like" censorship movement, but later defended her participation in the campaign to end violence and sex on television as an exercise of her First Amendment rights.

Schlafly also said she opposed efforts to make the Bible "sex-neutral," adding. "I believe God is a man."

Members of the Radcliffe Union of Students and Gays Organized in Opposition to Discrimination handed out leaflets opposing Schlafly's ideas before the speech.

Benjamin H. Schatz '81, a member of the Harvard Radcliffe Gay Students Association, said students should unite in support of a progressive leaders instead of "waiting to react to a reactionary like Phyllis Schlafly.