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Community Corner

Saturday is 30th Anniversary of the Failed Deadline to Pass ERA

Congress gave the states until June 30, 1982 to pass the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution. Only 35 of the required 38 states passed it.

The following is a press release from the office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Eric Garcetti.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Eric Garcetti joined women’s community leaders in recognizing the 30th anniversary of the Congressional deadline to pass a federal Equal Rights Amendment.  To this day, equal rights for women remain unprotected under the U.S. Constitution.

“Laws protecting women have certainly advanced in the last 30 years, but that doesn't mean women don’t need or deserve to have their rights protected under our federal constitution," said Garcetti, who noted that 22 states, including California, have enacted their own Equal Rights Amendments in the absence of a federal amendment.

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When Congress passed the ERA, it set a time limit for states to ratify it.  Originally set to expire in 1979, Congress extended the deadline to June 30, 1982, but it failed – receiving ratification by only 35 of the 38 states needed to be approved.

Garcetti was joined by Hollywood NOW President Lindsey Horvath as well as Zoe Nicholson, founder of ERA Once and For All, who was one of seven women who fasted for 37 days to draw attention to state legislatures that were voting on the amendment’s ratification in 1982.

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“June 30, 1982 seems like yesterday in one way -- my desire for full constitutional equality for all Americans has never changed.  The great news is that 2012 brings a whole new generation of passion and I am so proud to be a part of the current ERA movement.  The Equal Rights Amendment will be ratified one day because it is the right thing to do.  I hope I am there,” said Nicholson.

"For me, the 30th anniversary of the deadline for ratification of the ERA definitively marks a lifetime without constitutionally-protected equality, as I was born June 30, 1982.  Equality is long overdue in the United States, so we must all commit ourselves to creating that 'more perfect Union,’" said Horvath.

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