Equal Rights Amendment – There is ALWAYS Something Going on

Advocacy –Equal Rights Amendment. Part 1 - “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.”
2.  Give Congress the power to force the ERA through legislation.
3.  The amendment takes effect two years after its ratified.

I am placing the 3 statements in my article as #2 stands as the next step with insuring the ERA as our 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The ERA Coalition has been meeting regularly to discuss the latest pertaining to the Equal Rights Amendment. This past meeting we heard from Kamala Lopez, Equal Means Equal, on the update of the arrests of January 2025. Seven individuals were arrested but only one will stand trial. Adam Eidinger’s court date is October 14, 2025 in the DC Superior Court. It was a non-violence protest. Nothing stolen and no destruction of property. It is a serious matter. However, Equal Means Equal also views this as an opportunity to raise awareness of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Equal Means Equal v. Trump –The Amicus Brief will argue that the ERA is valid and the women deserve Equal Protection provisions of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. They would like organizations to serve as signatories to the Americus Brief, There is a due date of August 1.Yes, maybe we should review what is submitted before signing on. We would need to contact Kamala Lopez at kamala@equalmeansequal.org She will share and we would have a chance to review it.

Congressional Updates:

Although another repeat, we have good news to the numbers. The Equal Rights Amendments  were introduced in the House and Senate during March- Women’s History Month. Representative Pressley’s Bill HJ Resolution 80 dropped on March 24 and now has 175 co-sponsors. Up 11 since last month. There is a goal to surpass the 215 bipartisan list of cosponsors from the 118th Congressional session. Senator Murkowski’s Bill SJ Resolution 38 dropped March 25th on Equal Pay Day. Senator Mazie Hirano is the co-lead. The Senate bill is a companion bill to the House Resolution and the two bills share the same name: a joint resolution establishing the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

During the last Congressional session, the ERA Caucus  was  established  with  Representatives Pressley and Jennifer McClellan as the co-chairs. The Caucus is planning to host an event later this summer with Congressional members and ERA advocates to restart the Caucus with new co-chairs. One interesting discussion that I learned was the use of google when researching the stand of ERA. Seems AI is not helping our cause as we try to get the word out there. As we are learning, AI is having a way of distorting information as we know it. Please be careful if googling ERA for any presentation whether oral or written. I am still researching this information as it seems to be rather important as we move forward.

My last item to share is a paper on talking points –The ERA IS THE LAW OF THE LAND. Three Key Points to share: 1. The Era is the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is a formality, not something needed to make it valid. President Biden’s action confirmed what we already knew-the amendment fully met all the constitutional requirements with Virginia’s ratification on January 27, 2020.
2. Time limits are arbitrary. Time limits are not mention as part of the amending process in the Constitution.
3.  The fight is now about Awareness and Education. We must ensure that people know the ERA is the law of the land, protecting people from gender-based discrimination in all aspects of life, from reproductive healthcare to workplace equality.
We need to continue to talk about the ERA and keep it in our conversations.

Nancy Werner
Advocacy Team ERA Lead
2022-2026