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ERA Bills Filed at the NCGA

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House and Senate bills for North Carolina to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment were introduced this week. You can read them on the NCGA’s website:

H500: https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2025/H500
S438: https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2025/S438

Please thank the bill co-sponsors – they are our ERA Champions! Both bills were referred to their respective Rules Committees, where bills unfortunately tend to die of neglect.

Ross Nethery was kind enough to video the press conference, you can find that on our Facebook page, and we’ll post video from the NCGA video feed on our YouTube page soon.

 

2025 ERA Advocacy Day

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New bills affirm 28th Amendment to U.S. Constitution, urge N.C. to ratify ERA

North Carolina Rep. Julie von Haefen and Sen. Natalie Murdock introduced bills affirming the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment and urging North Carolina to become the 39th state to ratify.

The ERA was fully ratified in January 2020, and has been affirmed as the 28th Amendment by the American Bar Association and respected constitutional scholars.

Rep Julie von Haefen“I am proud to be the primary House sponsor of this bill for the fourth consecutive session,” said Rep. von Haefen. “Some people may ask why our state still needs to pass a bill regarding the ERA after Virginia became the final state necessary for ratification in 2020. [Read more…] about 2025 ERA Advocacy Day

3/26/25 Advocacy Day @ NCGA

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ERA Advocacy Day, 2023
ERA Advocacy Day, 2023

We’re looking forward to seeing you in Raleigh on March 26 at the North Carolina General Assembly, 16 W. Jones St.! Bring your signs and energy and talking points as we rally for equality and visit our legislators in their offices.

 

We’re excited that new ERA ratification bills will be introduced that day by our ERA Champions, Representatives Julie von Haefen, Mary Belk, Lindsey Prather and Renee Price, and Senators Julie Mayfield, Natalie Murdock and Woodson Bradley.

[Read more…] about 3/26/25 Advocacy Day @ NCGA

NCGA Bills Will Protect Marriage Equality

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Equality champion Rep. Deb Butler files two bills to protect same-sex marriage in N.C.

Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, North Carolina still has a ban on the books regarding same-sex marriage.

State Rep. Deb Butler’s first proposal, House Bill 174, would obliterate the ban and affirm the federal protections of all married couples, regardless of gender.

The second bill, House Bill 175, seeks a state constitutional amendment explicitly safeguarding marriage equality in North Carolina. This amendment would ensure protection even if the federal Supreme Court has second thoughts.

“Deb Butler has long been a champion for Equal Rights, so it came as no surprise to see her seek a state constitutional amendment to protect same-sex marriage in North Carolina,” said Marla Barthen, ERA-NC Alliance co-president and Butler’s constituent. “If you know her, you know she does not yield or back down on matters of equality.”

Given a shifting federal judiciary, North Carolina has the power to fortify civil rights protections for all its citizens. Butler said, “Marriage equality is a settled issue for the vast majority of Americans, and our state should reflect that reality. These bills are about ensuring dignity, security and legal protection for all families in the face of uncertainty at the federal level.”

We applaud Rep. Deb Butler for her strong support of human rights, from same-sex marriage security to equality for all through the 28th Amendment, formerly known as the Equal Rights Amendment.

Thank you, ERA advocates!

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On Friday, January 17, 2025, President Biden issued a historic opinion on the Equal Rights Amendment, confirming that the amendment has met all the Article V requirements to amend the Constitution, and that it should be published immediately as the 28th Amendment.

This opinion supersedes that of the Trump-era Office of Legal Counsel preventing the National Archivist from certifying Virginia’s 2020 ratification of the ERA, as he had for the Nevada (2017) and Illinois (2018) ratifications. As Virginia was the 38th and final state needed to ratify, the ERA is therefore the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The text of the Equal Rights Amendment simply reads: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

The ERA allows the courts to apply the strictest scrutiny in gender discrimination cases, and it gives us the foundation we need to build a more equitable state and nation.

The ERA-NC Alliance thanks all the activists over the years who have never given up on the Equal Rights Amendment, from our lead and member organizations, the ERA Champions in Congress and the North Carolina General Assembly, our Alliance founders and leadership past and present to all our dedicated members and advocates.  We thank you all for the arduous and continued work to get here.

Now we roll up our sleeves and start implementing the ERA.

Biden Confirms ERA is 28A!

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This morning President Biden issued his opinion that the Equal Rights Amendment is in fact the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution! Here’s his statement:

“I have supported the Equal Rights Amendment for more than 50 years, and I have long been clear that no one should be discriminated against based on their sex. We, as a nation, must affirm and protect women’s full equality once and for all.

On January 27, 2020, the Commonwealth of Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The American Bar Association (ABA) has recognized that the Equal Rights Amendment has cleared all necessary hurdles to be formally added to the Constitution as the 28th Amendment. I agree with the ABA and with leading legal constitutional scholars that the Equal Rights Amendment has become part of our Constitution.

It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people. In keeping with my oath and duty to Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex.”

Thank you for staying engaged, for calling, for texting, for keeping the pressure on the Biden-Harris administration to enshrine the ERA in the Constitution! Now we roll up our sleeves to start implementing the ERA!

Thank you, Rosalynn Carter

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Rosalynn CarterWith her soft voice and steely will, Rosalynn Carter was an inspiration and a gentle goad to millions upon millions of girls and women around the world. When asked about events in her lifetime she most regretted, she said,

“My greatest disappointment in all the projects I worked on during the White House years was the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment to be ratified…Why all the controversy and why such difficulty in giving women the protection of the Constitution that should have been theirs long ago?”

[Read more…] about Thank you, Rosalynn Carter

ACLU of NC joins the Alliance

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The ERA-NC Alliance is pleased to announce our latest lead organization partner, the ACLU of North Carolina!

Chantal Stevens, Executive Director of the ACLU of North CarolinaExecutive Director, Chantal Stevens, writes, “The ACLU of North Carolina is committed to equal rights for all, regardless of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry, or national origin. Joining with the Equal Rights Amendment NC Alliance is another way to affirm our commitment to advocating for gender equality and social justice. [Read more…] about ACLU of NC joins the Alliance

86-year perspective on the ERA

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Roberta MaddenAlliance co-founder and former president, Roberta Madden, wrote an excellent article for the new Carolina Public Press opinion blog, NC Talks, about her lifetime of advocacy for the Equal Rights Amendment.

“I often experienced sex discrimination in my experience of living in several different states over the past 86 years. In Louisiana, I couldn’t get a credit card in my own name, nor even a library card; and I was excluded from jury service. In Tennessee, I was paid 57%  of the wages earned by men for the same job. Despite some improvements in women’s status — we may now serve on juries, even get credit in our own names, and take home 83.7 cents for every dollar a man does — sex discrimination remains.  The recent reversal of women’s reproductive rights after decades of constitutional protection is a glaring example. Until the Equal Rights Amendment goes into the U.S. Constitution, women were not guaranteed equality under the law.”

Read the whole article here: 86-year perspective: Lingering sex discrimination and the need for equal rights amendment

 

NC Senators Vote Against ERA

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Really?
Tillis and Budd vote AGAINST equality for N.C. women

The question asked of our U.S. senators was simple: Should we vote to affirm that the Equal Rights Amendment is rightfully the 28th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution?

Yea, 51. Nay, 47. And two of those no votes were cast by our own Senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd!

A whopping majority, 82% percent of Americans, believe the ERA should be law. And a recent Meredith College Poll specific to North Carolina found support for ERA has actually grown from 67.4 percent to 71.5 percent in the past five years. This pro-ERA conviction is true across party lines, in urban and rural settings, among men and women.

Do our senators actually believe in constitutional INequality as their votes suggest? The excuse for their non-support has been the arbitrary deadline included in the preamble to the ERA 51 years ago. It is a moot issue. Nowhere in our Constitution does it mention “deadlines.” This is a made-up, lazy excuse for denying women their fundamental and precious rights to full equality under the law.

We’re mad as hell. But the fight continues and a second vote is expected before this congressional session is over. We will skip over the demoralization we feel today and plot our campaign to turn our own senators into ERA supporters. When we fight and we’re right, we WIN.

WRITE, CALL OUR SENATORS AND TELL THEM HOW YOU FEEL!

See how all senators voted here:

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1181/vote_118_1_00099.htm

If you missed the Senate action, you can watch it for yourself on the ERA Coalition’s Facebook page. They also livestreamed the press conference they held afterwards, with excellent comments from Zakiya Thomas of the ERA Coalition, House Representatives Ayanna Pressley and Cori Bush, and Alyssa Milano.

Make Your Voice Heard

Please urge Tillis and Budd to support North Carolina women and SJR 4! 

Sen. Thom Tillis
113 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington D.C. 20510
(202) 224-6342
https://www.tillis.senate.gov

Sen. Ted Budd
B85 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3154
https://www.budd.senate.gov/contact/