WGLT is clearly a joke. Here is Laurie Higgins writing at the Illinois Family Institute:
Look no further than Illinois State University (ISU) for evidence of the degradation of public education. In addition to hosting an annual drag queen fundraiser in the Bone Student Center, Illinois State University owns a fake news organization: WGLT. The call letters come from the school’s increasingly ill-fitting motto: “Gladly we learn and teach.”
WGLT, a public radio station and, therefore, an affiliate of National Public Radio (NPR), came to Illinois Family Institute’s (IFI) attention when a short article about IFI’s robo-calls warning Illinoisans about the campaign to resurrect the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) decades after its expiration date began circulating on social media. The article, written by “progressive” Baylee Steelman, is titled “Hate Group Lobbies Against ERA With B-N Robocalls” (B-N refers to Bloomington-Normal).
It should be clear from the title that the article is an editorial hit-piece on IFI masquerading as a news story about the ERA—thus a fake “news” story—but for those who need proof, here is Steelman’s “news” story:
The revival of a decades dormant campaign to pass the Equal Rights Amendment is drawing an opposition campaign from what some call a hate group.
The Illinois Family Institute has been placing robocalls to Bloomington-Normal area residents asking them to write state lawmakers Dan Brady and Jason Barickman.
“Don’t be fooled: The Equal Rights Amendment is not about equal pay for equal work. This radical anti-woman amendment will require taxpayers to fund more abortions. It will require young women to register for the military draft. It will increase car insurance premiums for women. The ERA will force women to use coed restrooms and locker rooms. It will impact child support as well as Social Security benefits for widows. The Equal Rights Amendment is all war on women,” said one recording.
Those claims are false.
The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Illinois Family Institute as a hate group usually focusing on anti-LGBTQ issues. The SPLC says the IFI has identified headquarters in Peoria and Carol Stream.
Supporters of the ERA revival campaign are also urging their members to call lawmakers to counter the IFI robocall.
Two more states need to ratify the amendment before it could take effect.
Steelman provides no evidence for her assertion that IFI’s claims are false. She did not cite another organization as the source of the assertion that IFI’s “claims are false.” She never contacted IFI to query us about our claims or to get a statement about them. She merely inserted her opinion that the claims are false, thereby implying that her opinion is settled, inarguable fact.
Steelman stated that the ERA has been long “dormant,” but failed to include the fact that the final deadline for the passage of the ERA was 1982.
Read more: Illinois Family Institute
Image credit: www.illinoisfamily.org.
