State Sen. David Johnson closely questions Dan Greenberg, who testified against the ERA. Photo Credit: Rita Sklar
State Senator Joyce Elliot argued in favor of Arkansas being the 36th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in front of the Senate State Agencies Committee this morning. The ERA debate has been brought to committee every two years in Arkansas and every time, it is shot down. A large crowd of approximately 150 people showed up in support of the ERA. Marti McKown, an activist who was present today at the committee meeting told me the crowd supporting the ERA was a diverse mix of men and women. Members of the LGBT community were present as well as representatives of Planned Parenthood. Another encouraging sign was the presence of young people. Another attendee, Sheryl Flanagin, stated it was the biggest crowd she had seen and found it to be an encouraging sign. Both McKown and Flanagin reported a sense of victory despite the ruling because they see a stronger, improved movement of progressive interest groups fighting together.
Photo Credit: Rita Sklar
The same arguments we’ve heard from conservatives came up once again. Before you get bogged down with frustration, remember, the midterm elections are imperative. As you will see, the arguments made against the ERA are mostly coming from men and are just as weak and pathetic as they have always been. It is and always has been about the control that our patriarchal society wants to hold over women. In the 1970s, Phyllis Schlafly was successful with these arguments, but a lot has changed since then. America had experienced a liberal sensibility for a long while and witnessed the women’s liberation movement. The pendulum eventually swung in favor of conservatives and we saw the Reagan era of conservatism. Since 2011, the Tea Party has been holding America hostage and the pendulum is swinging in a progressive direction once again. America is diverse, and the majority of us, especially youth, want equality for all. We have the power to turn things around in 2014. If we see large numbers of Democrats showing up to the voting booth, we can eliminate more of the Tea Party legislators who are obstructing progress, both for women and gays, and replace them with more progressive Senators and House Representatives.
Jerry Cox testifying against Sen. Joyce Elliott’s resolution to ratify the ERA.
Photo Credit: Rita Sklar
State Senator Eddie J. Williams wanted to know why the ERA is even necessary. Sen. Elliot pointed out that women do not have equal protection, and there is no gender reference in the Constitution. Sen. Bobby Pierce brought up the military as an argument against equal rights for women. According to the Arkansas Times, “Elliott responded that, of course, equal rights doesn’t mean requiring giving the same assignment to people unable to carry out an assignment — such as physical demands for serving in combat. Elliott said job assignments should ask the same of Joe and Josephine. No one has a right to do something they cannot do. Or to be prevented from doing something they CAN do on the basis of gender.”
The predictable yet infuriating arguments came from the Family Council’s Jerry Cox. Cox brought up the “unintended consequences” the ERA would have, such as forcing women to share college dorms and showers with men. He suggested that the ERA could force public funding of abortions. Sen. David Johnson (D) who argued in defense of the ERA, noted there was nothing in the amendment that could allow the scenario Cox presented, but when has that stopped the GOP? Republicans are proving they are still allergic to logic, facts and reason and prefer to manufacture fear tactics to subjugate women. It begs the question: why is it that a majority of men are the ones who are deciding this issue?
The most egregious and untrue fear tactic the right is using against equal rights is abortion. They want the anti-choice crowd to believe that equal rights will kill the effort and momentum that has been building to overturn Roe v. Wade. There is no evidence to back this up, yet the tactic works in the red states where the battle with Planned Parenthood and the abortion bans have seen the most rollbacks on the right to choose.
Of course, no ERA debate would be complete unless conservatives attempted to scare their uptight base with the unisex bathroom argument. An oldie but a goodie. Former Republican legislator Dan Greenberg, reiterated all of these tired points about the military, force-funded abortion and the dreaded unisex bathrooms. He also mentioned Affirmative Action could be eliminated by the ERA. Patrick Briney, Ph.D, President of the Arkansas Republican Assembly, breaks it down in this infuriating 2007 document titled Six Reasons To Oppose The ERA. In this piece of sad propaganda, he pulls out the shabby argument that the ERA is a “sloppy and confusing proposal.” For the record, it is not sloppy, nor confusing. Briney is just another one of those men who fears women being equal and looks for any argument to justify his fear and misogyny.
So you get the gist here, Republicans do not want women to be recognized as equal in the United States Constitution, and they will scurry to find one ridiculous reason after another to keep it from happening. According to the Arkansas Times, Greenberg was quoted as saying “equality in all circumstances is not always the best policy.” Would you expect anything less from the party who’ve been hijacked by extremists? As much as women wanted to see the red state of Arkansas be the 36th state to ratify the ERA, we knew it was a long shot. The good news is that the national conversation is getting louder and louder. Young people are realizing they need to be part of the debate. The more the GOP works to erode and eradicate the advancements women have made, the harder we fight. It’s going to be a battle to finally get the equality we deserve. It will be won with sheer will. Just as the will of the suffragists won women the right to vote in 1920, women will make equality a reality in the 21st century. The momentum is building and blends nicely with the current DOMA debate in the Supreme Court.
The Equal Rights Amendment would provide blanket protection for women. State laws can be repealed and overturned. The ERA would reduce the money spent on costly lawsuits by providing a clearer judicial standard for deciding cases of sexual/gender discrimination. An important argument that is often overlooked is equal pay and how it would benefit women when they receive Social Security. When women earn less for the same work as their male counterparts, they collect less in retirement.
The Equal Rights Amendment reads:
- Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
- Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
- Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
When asked why it was important to finally ratify the ERA, McKown said, “So I don’t have to attend these committee meetings every two years and continue to ask for my rights as a woman.”
Kimberley A. Johnson (BIO) – A.K.A. The Anti Coulter is the author of The Virgin Diaries and an activist for women’s rights. Like her on Facebook, Twitter or friend her on FB HERE.
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