Press Releases

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) today welcomed Lisa Sales to the President’s State of the Union Address. Sales chairs the Fairfax County Commission For Women and is a leader of VA Ratify ERA, Virginia’s campaign to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

“Lisa Sales is one of many deeply committed advocates whose tireless efforts helped win ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment after years of struggle,” said Rep. Beyer. “I’m deeply proud that Virginia’s ratification of the ERA brought it across the national threshold. We still have more work to do at the federal level to ensure that the ERA is officially added to the US Constitution, and I look forward to voting to move forward on that work soon.”

“Virginia’s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment was a great moment in history, and a long time coming,” said VA Ratify ERA leader Lisa Sales. “As a sexual assault survivor, I believe the Equal Rights Amendment can strengthen protections for women who are survivors of sexual violence. Despite the overwhelming support of Virginians, we had to fight for years to get here. Even now opponents of the ERA are still trying to put up legal roadblocks to prevent it from being counted, just as opponents of women’s suffrage did before final ratification of the 19^th Amendment. As the House of Representatives votes on legislation to remove the national deadline for ERA ratification, lawmakers should know that women across the country will be watching.”

The Equal Rights Amendment reads: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."