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TOP 10 FACTS ABOUT THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT (ERA)
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The ERA is the proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would provide for equal rights for men and women. It was first introduced in 1923, and has been introduced in every Congress since. The pertinent text reads "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."
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The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly state that men and women have equal rights under the law. The ERA would make that clear for the first time in U.S. history. (Indeed, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in 1976 that it was not the intent of our Founding Fathers to make women equal, and that clarity very much is needed.)
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The most important effect of the ERA would be that clarification of the status of sex discrimination for the courts, whose decisions still show confusion about how to deal with such claims. The ERA would require courts to review the classifications based on sex with the same high level of "strict scrutiny" and justification as classifications based on race, religion and national origin. (Courts do not currently do this under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.)
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Without the ERA, any state or local laws granting men and women equal rights can be repealed at any time, and court decisions can be reversed or overruled.
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If ratified by 38 States, the ERA would become the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. So far, 35 States have ratified the ERA. No state has ratified since 1977, but the 1992 Madison Amendment provides a precedent to not have to start over!
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Florida is one of the 15 States that has not ratified the ERA. Ratification failed narrowly in 1982, the last time it was given a full floor vote. (In 2003 and 2008 there were 6-3 and 8-3 favorable votes out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the only vote s on the matter since then.)
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Senate Concurrent Resolution 1192 and House Concurrent Resolution 8003 were filed in the Florida Legislature for the 2010 session, calling for Florida's ratification of the ERA. Similar resolutions were filed in 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2003 - and in recent years a majority of the Miami-Dade Legislative Delegation has co-sponsored those bills.
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The ERA ratification bills have been endorsed in past years by many people and organizations. In Miami-Dade County this includes: County Commission, Miami Herald, Coalition of Chambers of Miami-Dade County, and Latin Builders Association.
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In 1998 Florida voters -- by a margin of 65% to 35% -- approved a similar amendment to the Florida Constitution when they approved of Revision 9. Therefore, ratification of the federal ERA would be fully consistent with the will of the voters of Florida.
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Equal Rights for women is a non-partisan issue and a moral imperative!
NOTE: More information on our ERA efforts can be obtained from: www.4ERA.org, www.ERACampaign.net, www.equalrightsamendment.org, and www.RatifyERAFlorida.net.
Speaker of the House Rubio and the Federal Equal Rights Lobbyist
In My efforts to understand the ERA history for the last 7 consecutive years, Sandy the ERA lobbyist responds to my questions in the following:
In a message dated 4/29/2010 7:25:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
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writes: >>I actually met with his next in line for an hour while they grilled me just for fun. Then sent me to his lawyer who didn't know squat about the ERA. I told him as I stood to leave that I was deeply insulted that they'd sent me to him so he could "inform" me!
I believe the staffer for the Miami-Dade Commission said that Rubio would not even refer the ERA to a committee.
>>YEs. I think I told you that. Not only that, he had promised on TV with me to work with me to "clear up legal impediments" ( which he knows do not exist) at an appointment "anyone can make". I tried for 6 weeks, sitting on his black leather couch every day. Then his minion came out, stood over me in bullying attitude for a large in-office audience, and said, "your bill isn't goind anywhere"..."because we have more 'important' things to discuss". Like the length of boys' athletic shorts and how to prohibit the hanging from the back of Florida's pickup trucks replicas of bulls testicles". I KID YOU NOT. This year they spent days on the former as well as AGAIN spending untold time on forcing ultrasounds on women who need pregnancy terminations.
There's an obvious race to see which Republican can be the most cruel to women in the name of punishing us for our "immorality" in making the world less fun for men.
Is this true?
What was it like with Rubio and his two years as speaker.
