Should the Equal Rights Amendment Be Passed?

[hobbsyoyo]

The ERA floundered in the 70's after being pushed by women's rights groups since the 20's. Did this amendment deserve to be defeated by anti-abortion and anti-feminist forces? Should it be revived by the Democratic Party as a response to the reckoning of sexual harrassers and assaulters going on now?

Should it even be amended to cover LGBTQ rights as well?

 

[Manfred Belheim]

No idea. More info would be helpful.

 

[Ryika]

So I had a quick look at wikipedia and from what I can gather, you're talking about the following:

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

If so, I have no clue what that has to do with sexual assault, clearly that's not an issue of equal rights under the law, but instead just criminals who commit crimes, creeps who do morally questionable stuff, and those who ignore their actions.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

On the face of it that all sounds reasonable, but then you think about certain legal rights that are actually sex-specific (or at least could be), such as certain medical procedures or access to certain areas (e.g. toilets), and suddenly maybe it doesn't seem such a good idea to have a blanket ban on such things.

Plus "on account of sex" doesn't go anywhere near far enough for a modern audience.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Equal right are for Commies! Because only Commies are for Equal Rights! Equality=Communism

 

[hobbsyoyo]

So I had a quick look at wikipedia and from what I can gather, you're talking about the following:

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

If so, I have no clue what that has to do with sexual assault, clearly that's not an issue of equal rights under the law, but instead just criminals who commit crimes, creeps who do morally questionable stuff, and those who ignore their actions.

Sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination are at best covered under a patchwork of local, state and federal laws. Without a solid constitutional grounding, this means that these issues are often in a legal grey area which, as we have seen, allows employers and individuals a lot of leeway to discriminate on pay and in other ways.

LGBTQ individuals have even less protections and I think a minor addition to the ERA would cover them.

I think it is time that this amendment is passed. Democrats could rally around this the way the GOP rally around tax cuts. Given how these issues are at the front of our national discourse, I'm kind of surprised people are not pushing for this already.


For background - this amendment nearly passed (needed only 3 more states to ratify it) but was defeated after a concerted push by anti-feminist forces who claimed this would destroy American families and force women to work and also force them to be drafted into the armed forces.

 

[Ryika]

I still don't understand the logical path from "there is sexual harassment" to "therefor, equal rights act". The two don't seem related at all, sexual harassment is illegal (one would hope, but it's the USA, so who knows I guess?), and a declaration of equality does not add any more illegality to the already illegal nature of an illegal action. The problem with sexual harassment is not legality, it's that in most cases, the people who are victims of it, and the people who see that it's going on, don't do anything against it, which is why powerful men can get continue to away with it. Which isn't to say that I'd be against the Amendment, but the case you're building seems completely nonsensical to me.

And wide-spread unequal pay based on gender is of course nothing but a lie.

 

[Lexicus]

Yes, the Equal Rights Amendment should be passed with an additional provision to cover discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender presentation, or transgender status etc.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I guess I'm at a loss to understand how this was allowed to languish and be forgotten for so long. Especially since the culture wars have swung back to the left and in light of everything going on in society, you'd think the Democrats would be pushing for this as hard as they can.

 

[Lexicus]

I guess I'm at a loss to understand how this was allowed to languish and be forgotten for so long. Especially since the culture wars have swung back to the left and in light of everything going on in society, you'd think the Democrats would be pushing for this as hard as they can.

The Democrats don't push hard for things, they like being polite and pretending that Americans aren't divided by fundamental conflicts of interest.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I think the ERA, as it stands, would be a slam dunk. Adding LGBTQ protections would make it a tougher fight but it's one that I think could be won. And I think the ERA would mobilize young people to turn out and vote and would probably energize them even more with LGBTQ protections.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

It's not enough that we stand against Trump. We have to stand for something and the ERA fits the bill.

 

[Lexicus]

It's not enough that we stand against Trump. We have to stand for something and the ERA fits the bill.

In 2018, I think not being Trump may carry the day. Come 2020 we will definitely need to stand for something.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

You're probably right but passing an amendment will take years. We need to start pushing them now to get it started. I faxed my Senators via resistbot about this just now. Hopefully they see it and reply.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Guaranteed the Republicans denounce it as an un-american communist-leftist-terrorist plot crafted by Hillary and Obama to destroy America.

 

[JollyRoger]

The ERA is a terrible concept. They need to find a better way to measure pitching performance.

 

[Cutlass]

While right in principle, it's not going to happen in politics. And trying for it will just reenergize the haters of liberty. And since they are winning now, one setback for them would be substantially undone if liberals pushed for too much freedom.

 

[Ajidica]

Yes.

I mean, not even a question really.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

PBS just ran a segment on this. Two more states, Nevada (2017) and Illinois (2018) ratified this amendment. Only one more is needed but a bill to pass it in Virginia was shut down in committee this week. The bill isn't entirely dead in VA and there are other states that might step forward and ratify it. Five states have rescinded their ratification since passage however this may have no effect in the end. Several states did the same thing (ratify then rescind) before the 14th amendment was finally ratified and included in the constitution and their rescission's were ignored. I'm sure there will be lawsuits and maybe the current bench of Squee and PJ will back them up.

I think this should be an issue the left rallies behind and it's long over due.

 

[Estebonrober]

PBS just ran a segment on this. Two more states, Nevada (2017) and Illinois (2018) ratified this amendment. Only one more is needed but a bill to pass it in Virginia was shut down in committee this week. The bill isn't entirely dead in VA and there are other states that might step forward and ratify it. Five states have rescinded their ratification since passage however this may have no effect in the end. Several states did the same thing (ratify then rescind) before the 14th amendment was finally ratified and included in the constitution and their rescission's were ignored. I'm sure there will be lawsuits and maybe the current bench of Squee and PJ will back them up.

I think this should be an issue the left rallies behind and it's long over due.

This is guaranteed to be a constitutional litigation roller coaster.