Here is a blast from the past:
Federal and state lawmakers have launched a new drive to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, reviving a feminist goal that faltered a quarter-century ago when the measure did not gain the approval of three-quarters of the state legislatures.
The amendment, which came three states short of enactment in 1982, has been introduced in five state legislatures since January. Yesterday, House and Senate Democrats reintroduced the measure under a new name — the Women’s Equality Amendment — and vowed to bring it to a vote in both chambers by the end of the session.
The renewed push to pass the ERA, which passed the House and Senate overwhelmingly in 1972 and was ratified by 35 states before skidding to a halt, highlights liberals’ renewed sense of power since November’s midterm elections. From Capitol Hill to Arkansas, legislators said they are seizing a political opportunity to enshrine women’s rights in the Constitution.
“Elections have consequences, and isn’t it true those consequences are good right now?” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) asked a mostly female crowd yesterday at a news conference, as the audience cheered. “We are turning this country around, bit by bit, to put it in a more progressive direction.”
The amendment consists of 52 words and has one key line: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” That sentence would subject legal claims of gender discrimination to the same strict scrutiny given by courts to allegations of racial discrimination.
I am not saying this to be a total wise-ass, but it really has been so long since I even thought about this issue that I am having a hard time remembering what exactly the arguments for and against this Amendment are and why it is important to support/oppose the issue. I am sure I had a really strong opinion once on the issue, but I will be damned if I can remember what it was.
*** Update ***
I guess the only real argument (and I had to try, because this just seems so innocuous) I can come up with against the ERA right now is that it is unnecessary. Considering the Republicans have introduced a number of frivolous amendments in the past few years, to include Gay Marriage Amendments and Flag Burning (to name just a few), they are not on very solid ground for opposing the ERA for that reason.
And that assumes that people will even bother to oppose it at all.