NC could be the last needed vote for the Equal Rights Amendment
RALEIGH, N.C. — In nearly two decades as a North Carolina resident, Charlotte Gallagher never had much occasion to enter the doors of the North Carolina State Legislative Building on Jones Street.
But on Wednesday morning, Gallagher traveled from Aberdeen to join several dozen other advocates to push lawmakers to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, a 1972 measure that would add to the U.S. Constitution a ban on discrimination on the basis of sex. It could become the first amendment ratified since 1992, and only the second in the last 50 years.
Support for the long-dormant amendment lagged for more than four decades before Nevada took up the issue in March 2017, becoming the 36th state to ratify. Illinois followed suit last month, leaving the ERA one state short of the three-fourths threshold required to amend the Constitution.
Supporters here Wednesday want North Carolina to be number 38, an act Gallagher said will benefit not just her, but her six granddaughters.
"We need to do this," Gallagher said. "It's long overdue."
But ratification will be a tall order in North Carolina, where Republican leaders have been reticent to move ERA bills filed by Democrats in the House and Senate from rules committees in both chambers, where legislation is often placed to die without a vote. Opponents say the amendment may not be necessary given all the existing legal protections against discrimination already on the books. They also point to a long-expired deadline with unclear implications – Congress originally required states to ratify the ERA by 1982.
https://www.wral.com/nc-could-decide-fate-of-equal-rights-amendment/17657364/
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