a biography of the day--sonia johnson

[niyad]

Sonia Johnson


Sonia Johnson (born Sonia Ann Harris; February 27, 1936) is an American feminist activist and writer. She was an outspoken supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and in the late 1970s was publicly critical of the position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), of which she was a member, against the proposed amendment. She eventually was excommunicated from the church (3 Dec 79) for her activities. She went on to publish several radical feminist books and become a popular feminist speaker.
Contents

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Johnson began speaking out in support of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in 1977 and co-founded, with three other women, an organization called Mormons for ERA. National exposure occurred with her 1978 testimony in front of the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights, and she continued speaking and promoting the ERA and denouncing the LDS Church's opposition to the amendment.[1][3]

The LDS church began disciplinary proceedings against Johnson after she delivered a scathing speech entitled "Patriarchal Panic: Sexual Politics in the Mormon Church" at a meeting of the American Psychological Association (APA) in New York City in September 1979. Johnson denounced allegedly immoral and illegal nationwide lobbying efforts by the LDS Church to prevent passage of the ERA.[3]

. . .


Johnson ran in the 1984 presidential election, as the presidential candidate of the U.S. Citizens Party, Pennsylvania's Consumer Party and California's Peace and Freedom Party. Dr. Flora 3rd was associated with her at that time and remembers that the press was not taking her press releases seriously or her press conferences, at which perhaps one reporter or so showed up. Sonia was the first woman who got federal matching funds to run for president, but she had little or no support from the national media. In the Washington Post, there was one small article, that seemed to ridicule her efforts and didn't report honestly on the large numbers of her supporters. Seeing that she could get nowhere in the United States, she used the funds to form the International Women's Congress, and organized other conferences and organizations to help raise the consciousness of women worldwide and start micro-enterprises in remote villages. Johnson received 72,161 votes (0.08%) finishing fifth.[5] Her running mate for the Citizens Party was Richard Walton and for the Peace and Freedom Party Emma Wong Mar.[6] One of her campaign managers, Mark Dunlea, later wrote a novel about a first female president, Madame President.[7]
Publications and personal views

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Johnson

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I remember having heard her speak in about 1990.

My wife & I drove down to hear her in LaCrosse, WI.

[niyad]

2. somewhere around that time, I was in SD--opened up the local alternative paper, and there was

an announcement that she would be speaking at one of the local colleges that night, in about half an hour. made it! it was a wonderful evening.

[Helen Reddy]

3. Sonia is a woman

whom we can all learn from.

niyad, I have recently purchased her book written in 1987 'Going out Of Our Minds'. I had failed to recall she was the first women's presidential candidate who received matching federal funds.

Edited for grammar. Object of the preposition ya know.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Tell me true--

Would you take offense at being prepositioned?

[niyad]

5. I still have my original copy. and yes, she was the first woman to receive the matching funds,

this despite the fact that the msm either ignored her, dismissed her, or treated her as a complete joke (unlike their treatment of sarah)

[no_hypocrisy]

6. I heard her speak and voted for her for president.

[niyad]

7. as did I

[libodem]

8. The part where Orin Hatch

Says of her congressional testimony, "Now, that's an insult to my wife" always sticks with me.