The ERA Is Back

With very little fanfare the ERA has has, once again been brought back up for consideration, albeit renamed the "Womens Equality Amendment", and I find that I am in favour of it, oddly enough. Certainly not because of the added power it places in the hands of the Congress, or the funds which will undoubtedly be misappropriated for its enforcement. No. I find myself in favour of it because it may just solve the same sex marriage issue once and for all.

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

Of course the usual suspects are no doubt already gearing up to fight it, again and I'm sure that any number of talk radio pundits will weigh in on the matter, probably against it.

While I have little faith that the government can or will uphold any amendment (unless it suits some statist goal of theirs) I think this may well be a step in the right direction to solving an issue that is becoming increasingly ugly. Here in Indiana we are currently facing an anti-gay amendment that has been solidly embraced and promoted by the Christian Right as a moral necessity. Despite opposition from major corporations, universities, numerous civil libertarians, just plain folks and rational politicians, (including one of my favourite Libertarians) the amendment is slowly going forward and is likely to become a matter for the mobs to vote on.

An ERA amendment could settle this matter once and for all if passed and we could move on to worrying about bigger things than how our neighbours choose to live. I can't wait to see how this plays out again!

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Equal Rights Amendment, Libertarian, Gay Rights