UES Lawmakers Urge Congress To Recognize Equal Rights Amendment

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Upper East Side lawmakers Virginia Maloney and Julie Menin joined former Rep. Carolyn Maloney Tuesday in pressing Congress to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.

The councilmembers and the former congressmember rallied with advocates in City Hall Park to announce Virginia Maloney's resolution urging Congress to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment.

"The Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified by 38 states, meeting the constitutional requirement. Now it is up to our leaders to recognize it as the 28th Amendment," Virginia Maloney said. "I am proud to introduce a resolution in the New York City Council urging federal recognition of the ERA, because equality under the law should never depend on politics — it must be permanent, explicit, and constitutional."

The Equal Rights Amendment affirms that equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex.

Virginia Maloney's resolution builds on an effort led by her mother, former Upper East Side Rep. Carolyn Maloney, whose nonprofit initiative ERA NOW is advancing a national petition drive to recognize the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th amendment. The petition has already gathered more than 160,000 signatures.

"At a moment when women’s rights are under relentless attack and hard-won gains are being rolled back, this City Council resolution supporting the federal legislation recognizing the ERA as the 28th amendment is critically important in building awareness, advocacy, and support," Carolyn Maloney said. "We cannot afford to wait for equality. Equality delayed is equality denied."

Her nonprofit, ERA NOW, will hit the road this year in an original 1914 Saxon motor car, traveling to 25 states. The tour will follow the same model of car and the same historic route a group of suffragists used in 1916 to promote women's right to vote.

"After decades of advocacy and people across our nation voting in support of equal treatment under the law, it is time for Congress to finally take the last step to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment," Menin said. "Especially as we see the federal government roll back basic protections for women and people across the gender spectrum, it is imperative that gender equality under the ERA be enshrined in our Constitution."

For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.