By Susan Laume: Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) announced Virginia’s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) on Monday, Jan. 27. In her official statement, she said, “We stand today on the shoulders of the thousands of women — and men — who have fought for the last 97 years to secure the ERA’s ratification. Finally, women have a…
By Susan Laume: Lucky Clifton residents on Monday, Sept. 16, got an opportunity to sample free ice cream and show their support for Virginian ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Clifton was just one stop in an ice cream truck tour of the Commonwealth by volunteers to remind voters that if Virginia ratifies the ERA it will become the 38th…
The struggle for Virginia to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment is not over, although the chances for victory in the current legislative session are slight. According to VAratifyERA, an activist group, there are three paths to getting the ERA ratification to the floor of the legislature before the end of the session on Feb. 23. Pro-ERA groups are sponsoring a…
By Karen Kirk: By a bipartisan vote, the Virginia Senate voted Tuesday to pass the Equal Rights Amendment Resolution by a 26-14 vote with 7 Republicans joining all 19 Senate Democrats. Now the resolution faces a more difficult road to passage in the House of Delegates, which has never cleared it. Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, chairman of the Privileges and…
By Karen Kirk: Winning the decades-long fight for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is in Virginia’s court, or actually its General Assembly. And the push is on to finally get it passed in 2019 in both Virginia’s Senate, where it has passed five times, and its House of Delegates, where it has languished in committee year after year. In 2018,…
Supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment are sponsoring a 10-day bus tour across Virginia to urge legislators to make Virginia the 38th and final state necessary to achieve ratification. The bus stopped in several locations in Fairfax County on Veterans’ Day, Nov. 11, after visiting Richmond, and continued on to Fredericksburg. The bus tour is run by VAratifyERA, a non-partisan,…
By Linda Sperling: (Ed. Note: The author is a Democratic candidate for Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Springfield District) The Equal Rights Amendment could finally become law in 2019, if the Virginia legislature ratifies it. The amendment needs approval from 38 states to become effective, and 37 have done so already. As most people know, the ERA would ensure that…
By Susan Laume: Virginia’s vote could be the last state vote needed to allow the United States Congress to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which would become the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. VAratifyERA Sunday — Women’s Equality Day — kicked off a campaign to press Virginia lawmakers to approve the amendment in January by holding screenings around Virginia…