ERA in the News: Dec 21, 2019 - Jan 3, 2020

Happy New Year to each of you! We hope that everyone had a warm and fulfilling holiday season.

We are very excited for 2020! It is going to be an active year, full of celebrations of 100 years of women's voting rights since the 19th Amendment was ratified on August 26, 1920.

We are now officially only days away from the reconvening of the General Assembly in Virginia on January 8, 2020. We continue to monitor the situation to see when state legislators in that state will bring the Equal Rights Amendment up for a vote. It currently anticipated that the ERA will be brought for a vote on the senate floor within the first two weeks of the session, possibly as early as January 14, 2020. As of today, it is unknown when the House will bring the ERA up for a vote. We'll keep you updated!

You can also keep tabs on what VARatify is doing on their website, which you can visit HERE.

For those of you following the legislation in Congress to remove the original deadline assigned to the ERA, here is a quick update. In the House of Representatives, a total of 224 co-sponsors have signed on to H.J. Res 79. The sister bill in the Senate, S.J. Res 6, added another 14 members signed on as co-sponsors to bring the total up to 33. See below in the "Call to Action" section for more information on how you can help.

CALL TO ACTION:

I (Heart) the ERA - Postcard - front - BORDER.jpg

VALENTINE'S DAY CAMPAIGN!

We are taking a page from Alice Paul’s playbook and sending “I (Heart) the ERA” Valentine’s postcards to elected officials.

Send a "Thank You!" to congresspeople who have signed on in support, or send a "ERA Valentine" to encourage representatives who have not yet signed on in support.

In their fight for women's suffrage, Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party sent "Valentine's" to the men elected to Congress. The tactic helped keep the issue at the forefront of conversation, and was one of many that Alice Paul employed to advance the 19th Amendment. Join us for a night of fun social activism in the fight for gender equality.

We're inviting ERA advocates across the country to join the campaign! Here are a few ways that you can join the fun:

1) Host a “I (Heart) the ERA” Valentine’s postcard writing party!

Order some pre-printed postcards from the ERA Toolkit, and invite your friends and send a Valentine to the list of officials we've selected and/or your local and state officials.

2) Download the "I (Heart) the ERA" social media squares and banner and share, share, share!

3) Download the postcard designs (front and back) and print your own to send to your elected officials.

The social media hashtags we're using are:

#ilovetheera
#ERAnow
#RatifyERA

If you are in the Philadelphia region, please join us for a FREE public post-card writing party at the Alice Paul Institute on Tuesday, February 11, 2020 from 6pm-8pm. More information can be found HERE . Hosted by API's Advocacy Committee, refreshments will be served.

The ERA Coalition is asking for our support to increase pressure on U.S. Senators to advance SJ Res 6 , the legislation that will remove the original deadline from the ERA. Introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin (MD), more co-sponsors are needed to advance the bill.

The following Senators have been selected for focused attention. If you are in these states, please call and email the office contacts (info below). Please also share with your friends, family, and colleagues who live in these states so they can also advocate for their Senators to sign onto the bill as co-sponsors.

ALASKA:

Sen. Dan Sulllivan (R): (202) 224-3004, David Pigue, david_pigue@sullivan.senate.gov

ARIZONA:

Sen. Martha McSally (R): (202) 224-2235, Pace McMullan, pace_mcmullan@mcsally.senate.gov

COLORADO:

Sen. Cory Gardner (R): (202) 224-5941, Brian Wanamaker, brian_wanamaker@gardner.senate.gov

HAWAII:

Sen. Brian Schatz (D): (202) 224-3934, Trelaine Ito, trelaine_ito@schatz.senate.gov

IOWA:

Sen. Joni Ernst (R): (202) 224-3254, Corey Becker, corey_becker@ernst.senate.gov

ILLINOIS:

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D): (202) 224-2854,Edward Edney, edward_edney@duckworth.senate.gov