Illinois Lawmakers Ratify Equal Rights Amendment

SPRINGFIELD, IL — More than 35 years after its deadline Illinois state lawmakers voted Wednesday to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The House passed the measure 72-45 after the Senate voted in favor of the legislation last month. However, because the deadline set by Congress expired decades ago, a legal battle could be possible.

Patch reports this decision comes less than two weeks after Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger urged Illinois lawmakers to "please vote yes" and finally ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, in an open letter shared on his daughter Elizabeth Jagger's Instagram account.

In the #MeToo movement era, the rockstar wrote, "I have three daughters who are US Citizens and they should all deserve equal rights under the Constitution of the United States."

Mick Jagger Urges Illinois To Pass Equal Rights Amendment

The amendment received a 43-12 vote in the Senate last month and states that civil rights cannot be denied on the basis of an individual sex. It was approved by Congress in 1972 and sent to the states for ratification, but needed 38 states to ratify it by 1982, and only 35 did.

More: ilga.gov/legislation

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