Vermonters can vote to pass the ERA this November

To the Editor:
Finally. On Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, Vermonters have the opportunity to vote to add a long-overdue Equal Rights Amendment to our Vermont Constitution. If passed favorably by a majority of Vermont voters, Vermont can join the twenty-eight (28) states that already have explicit inclusion of some form of equal rights in their state constitutions.
Both the Vermont House and Senate have voted in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment over the past two biennia, enabling it to be before the voters of Vermont on Election Day this year. This past legislative session, it was passed by the Vermont Senate with a unanimous vote of 29-0, while the House passed it by a commanding majority vote of 128-14. What a wonderful expression of bipartisan solidarity by our state legislature.
According to the Secretary of State’s office, the Equal Rights Amendment will appear on the ballot as follows:
To see if the voters will amend the Vermont Constitution by adding Article 23 to read: Article 23. [Equality of rights] “That the people are guaranteed equal protection under the law. The State shall not deny equal treatment under the law on account of a person’s race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or national origin. Nothing in this Article shall be interpreted or applied to prevent the adoption or implementation of measures intended to provide equality of treatment and opportunity for members of groups that have historically been subject to discrimination.”
So simple, and yet so necessary. While Vermont has enacted a number of laws that protect against discrimination - for example in employment, housing, and places of public accommodation - laws are more easily subject to change. Enshrining protections in our state constitution would recognize equal civil rights as fundamental.
While a federal ERA has passed all the necessary hurdles to be added to the US Constitution, the US Senate has halted its adoption. So, many states have stepped into the breach to make sure these protections are added to state constitutions. They have already been a very useful legal tool in other states to help protect a woman’s right to reproductive autonomy, for example.
As a state that values all people, regardless of their particular identities, Vermont should specifically include equal civil rights in our constitution. As the outgoing Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski stated, “equal protection under the law is not a partisan issue, it is a fundamental right.” I sincerely hope that the citizens of Vermont will agree and vote in support of Article 23 as we go to the polls on November 3.
Susan M. Sussman
Former Executive Director Human Rights Commission; Current Commissioner, Vermont Commission on Women
Middlesex