rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/vote-yes-on-the-equal-rights-amendment?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-vote-yes-on-the-equal-rights-amendment' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> People Demanding Action https://actionnetwork.org/groups/pdaction https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/share_options/facebook_images/000/091/446/original/ERAPDANew3.jpg In March 2017 the Nevada legislature voted to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment becoming the 36th state to do so. Only two more states are needed to ratify the ERA and Virginia could be one of them. The bills ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment are already gaining bipartisan support. In fact, Republican Delegate Roxanne Robinson has filed a House bill and John McGuire is a co-patron. Expanding this to a bipartisan majority will give the General Assembly national accolades for its leadership during these contentious times. The Virginia Senate has voted to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment eight (8) times in the last 9 years. It is well past time for the Virginia House to do the right thing and vote Yes to ratify the Equal Rights amendment. ; now we only need two more states to have the required 38 to complete the Constitutional amendment. Congress has been watching the activity in the states and has the requisite Constitutional amendment ready in both the U.S. Senate (SJ Res 5) and the U.S. House (HJ Res 53) to remove the ratification deadline. This legislation is critical to the economic stability of Virginia families. There is no protection against gender discrimination in the U.S. Constitution without a ratified Equal Rights Amendment. 92% of Americans polled believe there should be gender equality in the Constitution, and 72% believe it is already in place. Contrary to popular belief, the Equal Rights Amendment, passed overwhelmingly by both houses of Congress, with bipartisan support, in 1972, was never fully ratified by the states. Only 2 states are needed to fully ratify, and Virginia is one of those states. Without a ratified Equal Rights Amendment, the U. S. Supreme Court has refused to hear cases regarding gender discrimination. The equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment has never been employed in cases at this level. The second section uses the words “male inhabitant” or “male citizen” 3 times. Both Justices Scalia and Ginsburg have stated that there is no protection against gender discrimination in the Constitution, as it stands. The Congressional Research Service has identified ample legal arguments that the ERA is still legally viable: the precedent of the so-called Madison Amendment (27th) which was ratified 203 years after it was introduced; the fact that the artificial deadline for ratification is in the resolving clause and not in the body of the amendment; and that Congress has full authority over the amendment process as granted by Article V of the Constitution, which was demonstrated when they extended the initial deadline for ratification in 1978. Of the 14 unratified states, seven will be introducing legislation to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Since there are currently 36 ratified states, we only need 2 more states to finish the long overdue ratification process. Virginia already missed the opportunity to make history as the first state in the 21st century to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Urge your Virginia Delegate to vote Yes on the following bills: HJ2 (Kaye Kory (D), Eileen Filler-Corn (D), Jennifer Carroll Foy (D), Hala Ayala (D); HJ4 Alfonso Lopez (D) and HJ129 Roxanne Robinson (R). Urge your Virginia Senator to vote Yes on SJ4 (Surovell - D). https://actionnetwork.org/letters/vote-yes-on-the-equal-rights-amendment