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Ask Congress to Remove the Arbitrary Deadline for the Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment
PETITION CLOSED
- The time period for signing this petition has ended.
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Signatures
273 out of 500Petitioning
- The U.S. House of Representatives
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We invite you to join us in asking Congress to remove the arbitrary deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
We believe Congress should give the states another chance. On March 8th, 2011, International Women's Day, Congresswoman Baldwin and Congressman Andrews introduced a resolution that removes the deadline for ratification and clarifies that upon ratification by three additional states, the Equal Rights Amendment will be added to the United States Constitution.
When Congress passed the ERA in 1972, it provided that the measure had to be ratified by the necessary number of states (38) within 7 years. This deadline was later extended to 10 years, and between 1972 and 1982, 35 states ratified the ERA. Unfortunately this left the ERA just three states shy of full ratification when the deadline passed in 1982.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently stated his belief that the Constitution does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. He explained, “If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws.” Since 1982, continuous legislative actions at the federal and state level prove that the ERA remains “contemporaneous” and alive before the not-yet-ratified states.
As you likely know, the 27th Amendment to the Constitution, which concerns Congressional pay raises, was ratified after a 203 year ratification period. In addition to a handful of court cases upholding this precedent, the 1978 ERA deadline extension demonstrates that Congress can amend previously established deadlines.
The ERA was intended to ensure equality for women and men in all areas of society: it is an immediate and decisive remedy to end sex discrimination in federal and state laws and provides a clear benchmark for judicial interpretation. The ultimate achievement of “Equality and Justice for All” in the United States is fundamental to our democratic principles, economic recovery, and continued leadership around the world.
Please join us in supporting the removal of the ERA’s arbitrary deadline and set it on course for final completion. The intent of the resolution is simple: a path to equality for all human beings.
If you would like to learn more about this resolution and keep updated on it progress please visit our website http://www.katrinasdream.org or in the alternative please contact Helene Swanson of Katrina’s Dream at helene@katrinasdream.org
Sincerely,
/s
Helene Swanson, Founder
Katrina’s Dream
www.KatrinasDream.org
Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures
Ask Congress to Remove the Arbitrary Deadline for the Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment
To the 112th Congress of the United States:
As the founder of Katrina’s Dream I follow in the steps of my late mother-in-law, the Reverend Katrina Martha Swanson. She dreamed of an America that would have welcomed her and all women with Equal Rights. In conversations with her during her last sixteen months, she knew that the country she loved would one day treat women equally. It has been my privilege to talk with people across America – from Representatives and Senators in our nation’s capital to groups meeting in bars and coffee shops from Maine to California.
I can speak for a large number of Americans, women and men, who are waiting for our congress to make Equal Rights a part of the United States Constitution.
It is over 150 years since brave Americans gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, to demand an equality that was denied women then and shamefully is still denied today. Their unfulfilled words are engraved there on a marble wall:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
The ERA passed in Congress in 1972, and was sent to the states for ratification. Unfortunately, by the time the allotted deadline had passed in 1982, the ERA was just three states shy of the thirty-eight ratifications necessary for inclusion in the Constitution. I believe the states deserve another chance to pass this historic amendment.
I write representing the dead and the living – men and women who dream of a justice and equality America has never known.
As oppressed women and men in foreign lands are demanding full human rights in the streets of their nations, will our congress deny equality to fifty-one percent of our citizens? And suffering with them we see children who share the second rate status of their mothers.
It is my privilege, respectfully and at the top of our voices, to demand that you grant full justice for women by passing the Equal Rights Amendment.
Sincerely,
Hélène de Boissière-Swanson
Founder, Katrina’s Dream
I/We gladly join the list of businesses and individuals in the United State of America who believe in Equality for all under the law. By signing this form, I/We authorize use of my/our names to facilitate the passage of above proposed Constitutional Amendment.
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