Articles
‘Simply in purgatory’: Advocates urge new steps to ratify ERA after Virginia defeat
Washington,
January 30, 2019
Washington Post |
Supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment have launched a two-pronged effort to enact the long-stalled provision, demanding a vote in the Virginia House on a measure that was killed in committee last week and introducing bills in Congress to create new options for ratification. Both efforts were outlined at a news conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill. State Del. Jennifer D. Carroll Foy (D-Prince William) called for a floor vote in the House of Delegates on the ratification bill, which has already passed the state Senate and was co-sponsored by a majority of lawmakers in both chambers. Three of Virginia’s newly elected Democratic congresswomen have written a letter to House Speaker Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights), urging him to make a floor vote happen, and Carroll Foy seemed to say the fate of the legislation lay in his hands. “There is one man, and one man only, standing in between 160 million women across this country [and] their ability to finally be enshrined as human beings equal to men in the United States Constitution,” she said. “Virginia has the opportunity to lead.” “There can be no reason to oppose the ERA other than fear,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who also attended the news conference and addressed the mostly female crowd. “I ask every secure, confident man to join me in support.” |