Dear ERA Supporter,
Did you know that the US insisted that Iraq and Afghanistan include equal rights for men and women in their constitutions, but we do not have equal rights in ours?
That's right! The 14th Amendment * gave former slaves the equality under the law and the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. There is no guarantee of equality under the law for men and women. Our hard fought gains could be eroded in future years. In 1923 Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party proposed The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which by 1943 was wordd as follows:
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.
Thanks to stong women's rights efforts, the "Alice Paul" ERA was finally passed by Congress in 1972, and sent to the states for ratification. However, the ERA was ratified by only 35 states - three short of the required 36 (three-fourths of the states). Let's makie Louisiana one of the three states which will make the ERA a reality!
All of the old arguments against equal rights for men and women seem dated or even silly. Bathroom and draft objections no longer apply, or do many other arguments (see "Myths and Facts") The Amendment doesn't apply to abortion laws because they only affect women. The amendment doesn't apply to gay marriage because marriage laws affect men and women equally.
If you feel that men and women should have full equality guaranteed by the US Constitution, please sign our on-line petition at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/equal-rights-amendment-in-louisiana.html
f you want to be informed of our progress, please send an e-mail to our Coalition at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Louisiana Coalition for the Equal Rights Amendment
Sandra Hufstetler, Co-Coordinator, LA Coalition for the ERA