The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) did not get the required full 38 ratifications by 1982, so it is not codified in the U.S. Constitution as are race, religion and national origin. Click here to read the chronology of Florida's ERA Bill 1972-82.  Big NEWS is that one state, North Dakota, HAS JUST RE-ratified the federal ERA to show strong intent.
Yes, there is legal opinion that the ERA can pick up where it left off. This is because the 35 state ratifications achieved earlier cannot be rescinded. This leaves just three of the 15 states to go.
The ERA is still viable and timely based on the past precedent of an unrelated amendment having been adopted in the Constitution after waiting 203 years, plus other substantive legal arguments.
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| *********BREAKING NEWS ********* |
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YES, the Florida Senate Judiciary did vote to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment on April 1, 2008, bipartisan, 8-3 ! This, after much legwork by many organizations including especially Florida American Civil Liberties Union, Florida Women’s Consortium, American Assn. of University Women, Business & Professional Women, Equal Rights Alliance (us), Florida NOW, Florida Nurses Association, Miami-Dade Commission for Women, FL State U Students for ERA, and thousands of individuals, Especially we thank their Staff, and Senator Gwen Margolis, Sponsor of SCR 362 for her lead, and Senator Alex Villalobos who championed it along with his daughter.
House Speaker Rubio calls the ERA “not important” and has blocked ERA bill passing. Will Speaker-designate Sansom try the same? See Tallahassee’s reactions at http://www.baynews9.com/VideoPlayer/?arc/ERA
Florida State University junior Katie Hayden with multi-majors selected as Tallahassee Student Outreach Coordinator for the Equal Rights Alliance (us).
Ms. Hayden gave testimony before the Senate Committee April 1.
NEWS SCREED: DAFFY SCHLAFLY at it again
 Faculty and student protests at Washington U., St. Louis over Schlafly's "coronation" there May 16. Read more anti-Everybody ravings from Phyllis Schlafly similar those uttered at Senate hearing by her Florida minion that Sen. Don Gaetz called "silly" (e.g., teenagers would be forced into prostitution by the ERA).
Note protesters' backs turned to Phyllis onstage. 82% polled by the St. Louis Dispatch (not a scientifically valid poll) say she should not have been honored for her hate speech. But we do know that universities can use all the bequests they can get.
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Equal Rights Amendment
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| The Simple Moral Value of Equal Treatment Under the Law for men and women. |
Actual wording of the Equal Rights Amendment:
"EQUALITY OF RIGHTS UNDER THE LAW SHALL NOT BE DENIED OR ABRIDGED BY THE UNITED STATES OR BY ANY STATE ON ACCOUNT OF SEX."
Same classic wording since 1943 ... simple, direct and fair. Men benefit, too. So does the Economy. So do Moms. Read what Catholic Bishops had to say.
American men and women are not equally represented in the U.S. Constitution ... yet. The only incontestable right women have in the Constitution is the right to vote.
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News Alert
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If a Woman is running for the White House,
shouldn’t she also be in the Constitution?
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| Breaking News |
Where's The Outrage?
An Editorial from a loving father
Being a father of a young talented daughter, I am outraged that she is considered an equal among her male peers, but not in the eyes of our United States Constitution.
The ERA should be a slam dunk issue, one that everyone should endorse, but where's the outrage? Why is it meeting so much opposition here in Florida? Why are we letting misinformation formulate our public policy?
Why aren't we marching on Tallahassee and holding our legislators to a higher standard? Had black America been as unresponsive to the civil rights movement back in the 60's as we are today with the ERA, we would still have "for colored only" drinking fountains in Florida downtowns.
Where's the outrage?
If not for us.....let's do this for our daughters!
Mike McKinney. League of Women Voters, Hillsborough County
Past President
Florida's Equal Rights Alliance leader, Sandy Oestreich, receiving award from Base Commander Colonel Clemons for her Women's History Month ERA presentation at Eglin Air Force Base, Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, March 7, 2007. Chief Master Sgt. Dockery (L) also presented Ms. Oestreich with the Medallion of Eglin Air Force Base as a gift from the base servicewomen.
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Article published Apr 1, 2008 re: Florida’s ERA ratification moves a step closer
Pros and cons of ERA
The Equal Rights Amendment is one of those balls the second-wave feminist movement left in the next generation of women's lap.
So there it was Tuesday afternoon, picked back up in a Senate committee meeting by women old enough to have marched with Betty Friedan in defense of the "problem that has no name."
"It’s been a long fight," said Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Miami Beach, who filed the ERA bill. "Once again, we’re looking for equality under the law."
The Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced in Congress 85 years ago. It passed in 1972 and was sent to states for approval. But only 35 of the needed 38 states approved it. Florida wasn’t one of them. The ERA has since sat dormant.
There were some women in the audience from generation Got-It-All, those young enough to classify as feminism's lackluster third wave.
"Under the constitution, I only have the right to vote," said a junior at Florida State University, urging the committee to support the ERA.
Some of the 10 men on the 11-member committee were confused.
"I’m trying to understand what the amendment will afford you, and for that matter any other woman, that’s not in our law today," Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said to Margolis.
Margolis relied on presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
"If Clinton won this election, Congress could decide her salary should be less," she said. "And she wouldn’t be able to go to the Supreme Court and say anything."
Another woman representing female business executives pointed out that the United States made Iraqis and Afghans write equal rights for men and women into their constitutions.
But Carole Griffin, president of Florida Eagle Forum, gave the starkest predictions of what might happen if the ERA passed: No more separate holidays for Mother's Day and Father's Day; the age for consensual sex would be 12; prostitution would be legalized; and everything from prisons to boy scouts and girl scouts troupes would be sex integrated.
Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, asked Griffin if she has witnessed "any of those silly things" happening in Florida, where the constitution declares men and women equal.
The bill passed, with three senators voting no: Carey Baker, R-Eustis; Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami; and Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster, R-Orlando.
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 One of Florida’s nurses has re-ignited Florida’s ERA ratification campaign FOR YOU, and is working her heart out with thousands of like-minded citizens.
Read More . . .
 NEW DRIVE AFOOT TO PASS EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT - Other papers, magazines and wires ran similar ERA stories. Mocking Schlafly, one comedian fretted that if ERA passed there would be unisex bathrooms in which "they would force him to sit to ____" (urinate). . .
Read More . . .
 ERA BILLS GATHERING MOMENTUM - The Illinois, Missouri and Florida legislatures have filed ERA ratification bills. The Arkansas Senate is revving up for ERA, and the House may have enough votes! “Hundreds Gather. . .
Read More . . .
Nonpartisan Joy – FLORIDA WOMEN ELECTED, FLORIDA WOMEN SERVING: Alex Sink, Arthenia Joyner, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Kathy Castor!
Read More . . .
The EQUAL RIGHTS ALLIANCE and VETERAN FEMINISTS OF AMERICA Announce the Florida Book Launching of FEMINISTS WHO CHANGED AMERICA, 1963-75, edited by the renowned Barbara Love
Read More . . .
MEDIA RELEASE—FEMINISTS WHO CHANGED AMERICA, 1963-75 / December 4, 2006
Read More . . .
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| Equal Rights Alliance, P.O. Box 59023, N. Redington Beach, Florida 33708 - RatifyERA@cs.com |
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