Danger: ERA Introduced in Georgia
Georgia Insight’s Weekly Commentary, February 1, 2019 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
On March 22, 1972, Congress passed a bill to add an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution, if three-fourths (38) of the states ratified it within seven years. When that bill passed, former two-term Georgia senator Jimmy Carter, was governor of Georgia, and was elected to a four-year term as U.S. President in 1977. Those are compelling facts, specifically, because (a) the ERA passed Congress during Mr. Carter’s term as Georgia’s Governor and (b) the ratification process was during and extended beyond his time in the presidency. Despite the Georgia native’s powerful positions during that time, the ERA never passed in his home state.
While those facts are significant, another compelling story must be considered when S.R. 55 and S.R. 66 are considered in committee. This story involves James H. Floyd, Chattooga County’s representative for 22 years before his 1974 fatal heart attack. He was nick-named “Sloppy” because his over-sized high school football jersey was too big for his skinny frame.
“Sloppy” Floyd lived when men could address women as “Honey” without being called sexist, and that’s what he did. After Decatur resident Eliza Paschal asked the House committee to pass the ERA, Mr. Floyd said, “Honey, tell me what you want to do that Georgia law won’t let you do, and I’ll fix it.” I don’t know how she answered him, but that question swirled round-and-round in her mind until she realized this: There was no Georgia law that kept her from doing whatever she wanted to do, simply, because she was a woman.Eliza Paschal was national secretary of the National Organization for Women and supported the ERA when she testified at that hearing, but became a national spokesman AGAINST the ERA after realizing Georgia law did not limit her because she was a woman. Subsequently, Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly sponsored her in her opposition to ERA, wherever it emerged.
Although the ERA failed to pass in seven years and during its three-year extension, H.R. 969 was introduced last year to ratify ERA in the Georgia General Assembly. Thankfully, it died. This year in Georgia, Democrat Senator Orrock’s S.R. 55, with 16 co-sponsors, and Republican Senator Unterman’s S.R. 66, with 21 co-sponsors, emerged on January 30th to ratify the ERA.
The bottom line: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex,” does not mandate equal opportunities and equal support for women, anywhere. On the contrary, it mandates that men and women CAN NOT be treated differently, even when different treatment makes sense, is logical and is based on biological differences. Laws that, currently, allow judges limited ability for different treatment based on sex, would be totally wiped out by the ERA.
Ask Senate Judiciary Committee members to vote NO on S.R. 55 and S.R. 66. Call area code 404 to reach the following Senators: Stone Ch., 463-1314; Cowsert, V-Ch., 463-1366; Tillery, Sec., 656-0089; Heath, 656-3943; Jones II, 463-3942; Kennedy, 656-0045; Ligon, Jr., 463-1383; Parent, 656-5109; Rhett, 656-0054; Strickland 656-7454.