Florida NOW

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt and Vice President Christian F. Nunes:

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Each February, the National Organization for Women commemorates Black History Month to honor the lives of African Americans who have shaped our nation and its culture. Our country and our communities would not be the same without the efforts of people of color, who work tirelessly in the face of oppression.

African American women have been fierce advocates for gender equality for centuries, from suffragists Anna Julia Cooper and the founders of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority to civil rights leaders Ida B. Wells and Sojourner Truth. In more recent years we’ve witnessed history as Nevada State Senator Pat Spearman kicked off the modern Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) movement and Virginia Delegates Jennifer D. Carroll Foy and Hala Ayala championed the ERA in Virginia, which just became the historic 38th state to ratify.

Thanks to these women and many others, progress has been made, but we must never underestimate the insidious racism that continues to plague our country in the form of discrimination in employment, health care, housing, the justice system and voting rights. That is why NOW is co-hosting our Racial Justice Summit with U.S. Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI) on Feb.10th, which aims to create conversation about the intersection of gender, health, economics, violence and race.

Black History Month highlights the importance of intersectional feminism. Black lesbian civil rights activist and feminist Audre Lorde famously said, “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are different from my own.” As firm believers of this approach to advocacy, NOW is committed to breaking down the barriers to gender and racial equality that have restricted women of color for centuries.

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary , press@now.org , 202-570-4745

Statement from NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – NOW applauds Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford for filing a civil rights suit against the Trump Administration to recognize that following Virginia’s historic vote to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, the ERA is now the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.    

The suit argues that the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has no authority over this matter and the Trump Administration cannot cling to language that appears in the 1972 preamble to the ERA that set an artificial timeline for passage.  As AG Herring pointed out, the 27th amendment was ratified by individual states beginning in 1789, and ratification was not completed until 1992. 

Women, including NOW’s dedicated grassroots activists, have long been working for constitutional equality, marching for equality and, as the most recent midterm elections showed so dramatically, voting for equality.  Donald Trump and William Barr are distorting our nation’s laws to suit their discriminatory and misogynist political agenda.    

They want to shred the Constitution.  Women want to make it stronger.

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary , press@now.org , 202-570-4745

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

RICHMOND, VA — Today’s formal ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in Virginia is a cause for celebration.  This day has been a long, long time coming, and credit for this historic victory is due to the new leadership of the Virginia legislature—and the groundswell of feminist activists and voters who put them there. 

After successfully passing the state House and Senate on Jan. 15th, today’s crossover vote makes Virginia officially the 38th state needed to ratify the ERA—passing the three-fourths of the states threshold the U.S. Constitution requires for final adoption of an amendment.  However, obstacles to certification remain, including an artificial timeline imposed in the preamble to the ERA in 1972. Now Majority Leader Mitch McConnell won’t let the Senate vote on a bill to remove that timeline, S.J.Res.6, even though it has two Republican co-sponsors, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. 

While the timeline removal bill is not necessary—legal analysts have asserted that Article V of the Constitution does not permit the imposition of deadlines on the ratification process—it would provide extra insurance as the ERA certification process goes forward. NOW calls on Congress to act on S.J.Res.6 and correct the Constitution’s most glaring omission.  It is simply never too late for equality.  

A democracy that fails to include women in its founding document is a failed democracy.  But today, Virginia women have shown how to rise up and put equality, reproductive rights and women’s justice at the front of the political agenda. 

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary , press@now.org , 202-570-4745