OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Equal Rights Amendment

Floor Speech

Date: March 17, 2021
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Women Civil Liberties and Civil Rights Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

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Ms. JACOBS of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the equal rights amendment.

From the beginning, gender equality was left out of the Constitution. Generations of women and LGBTQ-plus Americans lived and died without ever having the equal rights and dignity that they deserve under the law.

We know that the ERA is necessary by the words of its opponents, including the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who argued that the Constitution does not prohibit discrimination based on sex. We can change that.

Madam Speaker, 38 States have ratified the ERA. The only hurdle that remains is the arbitrary deadline set by Congress, a deadline that passed before I was born, but a deadline that never stopped the pursuit of justice. With every vote we take in this Chamber, we have the chance to correct past mistakes and repeal past wrongs. That is what we will do again today.

Madam Speaker, our march for equal rights is not done. It will not stop, and it does not expire.

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