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. Continue reading →