Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause prohibits states from enforcing anti-discrimination laws against businesses providing “expressive” services when doing so would compel speech that violates the owner’s religious beliefs. Justice Gorsuch …
Supreme CourtJustice Neil GorsuchChief Justice John RobertsJustice Clarence ThomasJustice Samuel Alito+11 moresupreme-courtjudicial-capturelgbtq-rightsreligious-rightcivil-rights+2 more
Oregon voters defeat Ballot Measure 9 by a margin of 56.5 percent to 43.5 percent, rejecting what has been described as “one of the most comprehensive and harshest anti-gay measures put to voters in American history.” The initiative, sponsored by the Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA) and …
Oregon Citizens AllianceLon MabonChristian CoalitionNo on 9 Coalitioninstitutional-capturereligious-rightanti-lgbtq-legislationballot-initiativesgrassroots-resistance
On September 25, 1989, at an organizational meeting in Atlanta, Pat Robertson founded the Christian Coalition following his unsuccessful 1988 Republican presidential bid. Robertson recruited Ralph Reed, a twenty-eight-year-old doctoral student in history at Emory University, as the …
Pat RobertsonRalph ReedChristian Coalitionreligious-rightgrassroots-organizingelectoral-infrastructurestealth-candidatescultural-warfare
The Equal Rights Amendment expires on June 30, 1982, after failing to achieve ratification by 38 states, marking a stunning victory for Phyllis Schlafly’s decade-long STOP ERA campaign and establishing the template for modern conservative movement organizing. Despite 30 of the necessary 38 …
The Council for National Policy (CNP) is founded by Tim LaHaye, Paul Weyrich, Richard Viguerie, Morton Blackwell, Phyllis Schlafly, Nelson Bunker Hunt, Joseph Coors, and approximately 50 other conservatives who begin meeting every Wednesday morning at Viguerie’s Virginia home. The CNP is …
Phyllis SchlaflyCouncil for National PolicyTim LaHayePaul WeyrichRichard Viguerie+4 moreconservative-movementdark-moneyinstitutional-captureelite-networksreligious-right
In May 1981, during the Reagan administration, Tim LaHaye (then head of the Moral Majority), Paul Weyrich, Nelson Bunker Hunt, T. Cullen Davis, Howard Phillips, and William Cies founded the Council for National Policy (CNP) as an umbrella organization and networking group for conservative and …
Tim LaHayePaul WeyrichNelson Bunker HuntHoward PhillipsT. Cullen Davis+1 moreconservative-coordinationsecretive-networksreligious-rightpowell-memo-implementationelite-networks
Phyllis Schlafly and Jerry Falwell headline an ‘I Love America—Stop ERA Rally’ in front of the Illinois state capitol, publicly demonstrating the emerging unity of the Religious Right coalition that Schlafly had been building since 1972. The rally symbolizes a historic breakthrough: the …
In June 1979, Paul Weyrich and Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority during a meeting at a Holiday Inn in Lynchburg, Virginia, with Weyrich coining the term “moral majority.” The organization represented a strategic alliance between corporate interests and religious conservatives, …
Paul WeyrichJerry FalwellRichard ViguerieHoward PhillipsEd McAteer+2 morereligious-rightcultural-warfarecorporate-fundinggrassroots-mobilizationnew-right+1 more
The U.S. Supreme Court decides Roe v. Wade, establishing constitutional right to abortion and instantly creating a rallying point for grassroots anti-feminist and anti-abortion organizing that will transform American politics and provide the social issue dimension needed to fuse economic …
U.S. Supreme CourtNellie Grayroe-v-wadeabortionconservative-mobilizationreligious-rightsocial-issues
Phyllis Schlafly founds Eagle Forum in Alton, Illinois, creating permanent institutional infrastructure for conservative social activism that will last for decades. Initially created to coordinate the STOP ERA campaign, Eagle Forum quickly grows into a comprehensive conservative advocacy …
Phyllis Schlafly launches her STOP ERA campaign with an article titled ‘What’s Wrong with Equal Rights for Women?’ published in her February 1972 newsletter, fundamentally reshaping American conservative politics and pioneering the anti-feminist movement. After being asked to …