Cate Blanchett plays anti-LGBT conservative Phyllis Schlafly in star-studded Mrs. America trailer
Cate Blanchett in Mrs. America trailer (YouTube)
Cate Blanchett is beloved by queer audiences for her iconic lesbian role in Carol, but one of her biggest roles of 2020 will be very different.
Blanchett is set to star as conservative Phyllis Schlafly in upcoming FX series Mrs. America. Schlafly was one of the most vocal female opponents to the 1970s Women’s Liberation Movement in the United States. She was also against same-sex marriage and hit out at the “gay lobby” for seeking “social recognition of their lifestyle” in a 2010 article.
Mrs. America tells the story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and the unexpected backlash from conservative women, led by Schlafly. The limited series will explore the culture wars between conservative women and feminists in the 1970s and examine how they shifted the political landscape of the day.
Cate Blanchett drama Mrs. America will focus on culture wars between conservative women and feminists in the 1970s.
In the Mrs. America trailer – which was released on January 9, Blanchett’s character Schlafly declares: “I am not against women. I am not against women working outside the home. But what I am against is the women’s liberation movement.”
“This fight is not about equality. It’s about power,” the character, played by Cate Blanchett says.
Mrs. America will portray Schlafly as a woman who believes that her fight against the Women’s Liberation Movement is not just right, but essential.
I am not against women. I am not against women working outside the home. But what I am against is the women’s liberation movement.
The series also stars lesbian actress Sarah Paulson alongside Rose Byrne, Margo Martindale, Uzo Aduba, Elizabeth Banks, Tracey Ullman and John Slattery.
The series will focus on the culture wars between conservative women and feminists in the 1970s, so there won’t be much room for Schlafly’s anti-LGBT+ views.
Phyllis Schlafly opposed same-sex marriage during her lifetime.
Phyllis Schlafly – who died in 2016 at the age of 92 – was a constitutional lawyer and conservative who opposed feminism, abortion and same-sex marriage.
In 2009, she hit out at the movement for same-sex marriage, writing: “The institution of marriage as the union of one man and one woman has been fundamental to America ever since the founding of our nation.”
She continued: “Attacks on the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman come from the gay lobby seeking social recognition of their lifestyle, from the feminist movement that opposes what they call the patriarchy (that supposedly makes women second-class citizens), and also from some libertarians who believe marriage should be merely a private affair and/or a religious contract, and that the terms of this union should be none of the government’s business.
“These libertarians want to deny government the right to define marriage, set its standards, or issue marriage licenses.”
She added: “Traditional marriage is essential to a stable society. We should maintain government’s proper role in defining it and protecting it.”
Her son was outed as gay in 1992.
In 1992, her son John was outed as gay by Queer Week magazine. Schlafly publicly acknowledged her son’s sexuality but said that he supported her views.
In an interview that year with the Los Angeles Times, John Schlafly insisted that “the family values movement is not anti-gay” and said he held his mother “in very high esteem.”
“She’s doing good work,” he added.
Meanwhile, Phyllis said of her own track-record on LGBT+ rights: “There’s nothing about my position on gay rights that should be offensive to a gay unless he’s seeking some kind of preferential status.”
