Women’s march is slated in San Diego Jan. 18

By Miriam Raftery

View video of applause after ERA passage in Virginia Legislature today

January 16, 2020 (San Diego) – It takes two-thirds approval by 38 states, plus Congress, to add an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  The Virginia Legislature today became the 38^th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, (ERA) long after Congress did so, too. But the action sets the stage for legal challenges, since the deadline for ratification of the amendment granting equal rights to women has long since passed.

Virginia legislator Mark Keam tweeted, “On Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s 91st birthday, a dream came true in Virginia. A Dream of generations of women who have fought for equality under U.S. Constitution. With this vote, I and 58 of my  @VaHouse colleagues voted on the right side of history.”

Efforts to attain Constitutional rights for women date back to the early days of our nation, when Abigail Adams implored her husband, founding father John Adams, to “remember the ladies” when drafting the Constitution, “for all men would be tyrants if they could.” She warned that if women were not granted rights, they would foment rebellion.  But Adams ignored his wife, and women were omitted from the Constiution, following after the Declaration of Independence which stated that “all men are created equal.”