Monday, February 20, 2012
Politics / Clout City The ERA, DOA 30 years ago
Posted by Kate Schmidt on 02.20.12 at 08:00 AM
First written by Alice Paul in 1923, it finally passed both houses of Congress in 1972 and went to the state legislatures, with ratification from 38 states required for it to become a constitutional amendment. Thirty states had ratified it by the next year, but when the original 1979 deadline rolled around, it was just at 35. Congress had passed a resolution extending the deadline to June 30, 1982. That summer, fresh out of Moline High School, I rode a bus to a rally in support of its passage down in Springfield.
I had a lead role in a ridiculous melodrama at a community theater at the time, and since an older woman in the cast, an attorney, was going and could serve as my chaperone, my parents allowed me to join her. (I'm over it now, but when my younger brother was in his teens, they bought him a car.) We'd been asked to wear purple, white, and green, the traditional suffragette colors, which I found silly. And there were women on hunger strikes and others who'd chained themselves to the statehouse, which I found extreme. To tell you the truth, what I remember most vividly is being jeered at—there were "antis" out in force. A fat little kid yelled that we were "bra burners." At a McDonald's stop on the way back a local spat "Go home, libbers." May I repeat we're talking 1982?
Illinois never succeeded in ratifying the proposed amendment, and all these years later, the ERA seems to have dropped out of public view—I was surprised to find that it's still a live (or at least undead) issue. According to Wikipedia, it's been reintroduced in every session of Congress since 1982, though the last time it reached the floor was in 1983. Some supporters—like the Alice Paul Institute—have embraced what's known as the three-state strategy, arguing that the 35 state ratifications from the 70s remain valid, so that still only three more state ratifications are needed. Last March, Wisconsin representative Tammy Baldwin introduced legislation that would rescind the 1982 deadline; Illinois' own Luis Gutierrez is one of the bill's cosponsors.
There's been a lot of talk about the wingnuttery of the Republican party lately, and rightly so—to cite another LOLGOP Twitter post, "Foster Friess is now #4 on my 'Can't Believe He's Not a Simpsons Character' list." The history of the ERA shows the GOP's rightward shift quite starkly: support of the ERA was part of the party's platform from 1940 to 1980, Eisenhower asked Congress to pass it in 1958, and after its 1972 congressional passage, Nixon endorsed it. Now we have Santorum.
Comments (6)
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The ERA is now pending in Senate SJ Res 21 with only about 12 cosponsors and missing many of the liberals and women who should be cosponsors. In the House it is HJ Res 69 with about 180 cosponsors but missing Speaker Pelosi. There is no leadership whatsoever among the rich and famous women and they along with the President and Republican candidates all avoid the ERA as if it was the plague. No women has a guarantee of Constitutional equality without the ERA. The failure of America to ratify the ERA is the shame of our so called democracy. Brad Berger
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dislikeWe have quite a lively ERA page on Facebook, actually:
http://www.facebook.com/ERAusa
Come on by!
- Jen Deaderick
You know, I'd love to hear Teresa Heinz speak up about Santorum. Santorum's still trying to connect himself to the late Sen. John Heinz, who was something of a Wellstone figure in Pennsylvania -- not in his politics, but in the regard with which he was held. Santorum campaigned for senate in PA as though he were a Heinz protege, and when Teresa opened her mouth about what crap that was, he went fullbore misogynist on her, trying to paint her as a loose rich bitch betraying her late husband's memory. She's a lovely woman and a genuine pip, and I hope that if, God forbid, he gets the nomination, she'll help sink him.
I am one of those 7 fasters you write about. I remember so well all of the school kids coming by. I have a few pictures - do you have any?? would love to see them.
http://eraonceandforall.com
Zoe Nicholson
http://www.lunesoleilpress.com/the-hungry-…
'LOLGOP can rightfully tweet "#nextGOPhearing: Should pregnant women be allowed to wear shoes in the kitchen?"'
Rightfully? Sure, if you're a leftwing nutjob who feels she's being oppressed because she can't receive luxuries like birth control pills for free.
