Old But Good
Wait a minute — Gloria Steinem is 80 today?
Eighty freaking years old?
Steinem, Seasoned
■
And just imagine — a legal, political issue she was associated with, the Equal Rights Amendment, is such a relic of the past that it makes the octogenarian look downright coltish.
Yep. The ERA died its official, ignominious death some 32 years ago. But it was on a respirator for several years before that.
The meat of the ERA, Section 1, was precisely 24 words long. Ignoring the two sections of the proposed amendment dealing with enforcement and date of effect (each of which contained less verbiage than the first section), the ERA said, simply:
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’s it, babies. The Right spent tens of millions of dollars and created an environment of fear, mistrust, and hysteria to defeat it. It was a simple, declarative sentence that was not approved by enough state legislatures to become a part of this holy land’s Constitution.
Phyllis Schlafly Rants Against The ERA
■
BTW: the US Senate bill passing the Amendment on to the states was sponsored by Indiana’s Birch Bayh. The Amendment itself was endorsed by none other than President Richard Nixon. Oh, and Indiana was the final state to ratify, number 35, in 1977. Still, the thing was seen as too radical, to dangerous, too liberal.
Thanks anyway, Gloria.
▲