50 signatures reached
To: The United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate
Pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
Equality between women, men, and LBGTQ’s is a fundamental human right that should be guaranteed in the Constitution. Pass the Equal Rights Amendment by removing the arbitrary deadline imposed by Congress.
Why is this important?
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would expressly prohibit discrimination against girls and women, men, and the LGBTQ community on the basis of sex.
"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."
The Constitution does not guarantee equal rights for women. As Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has stated: “Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t.”[1] And “When the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 5-4 decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes in June 2011…the ruling upended decades of employment discrimination law and raised serious barriers to future large-scale discrimination cases of every kind.” [2]
The ERA is an important statement of principle. The Constitution embodies the nation's core values. Equality is a fundamental human right that should be guaranteed in the Constitution. [3]
Sex discrimination continues to limit equal opportunity and justice for all. Economic inequality, pregnancy discrimination, violence against women, and other forms of discrimination, are not prohibited by the US Constitution. State laws are not uniform and federal laws are not comprehensive. Moreover, these laws can be, and in some cases have been, rolled back anytime.
Also please feel free to join us in spirit or at the ERA March to the US Capitol this coming August 26, 2015 at St. Stephen’s and The Incarnation in Washington DC. Please see http://www.katrinasdream.org/era/dc-era-blessing-walk-and-rally/rally-speakers/
Source:
1. "Scalia: Women Don't Have Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination," The Huffington Post, January 3, 2011
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/03/scalia-women-discrimination-constitution_n_803813.html
2. “The Impact and Echoes of the Wal-Mart Discrimination Case,” ProPublica, Sep. 27, 2013,
http://www.propublica.org/article/the-impact-and-echoes-of-the-wal-mart-discrimination-case
3. ERA CRS Report – Congressional Research Services Report: The Proposed Equal Rights Amendment: Contemporary Ratification Issues [April 8, 2014] prepared byThomas H. Neale, Specialist in American National Government
http://www.katrinasdream.org/wp-content/uploads/ERA-CRS-Report.pdf