The Equal Rights Amendment would, for the first time, create a constitutional prohibition on sex discrimination and give a constitutional “umbrella” for gender equality. That foundation would not only boost the fight to protect the gains we have won, but also add constitutional weight for proactive legislation that would defend Americans from sex discrimination going forward.
BETTY gets the crowd excited before the rain starts again.From left to right: Terry O’Neill, President of the National Organization for Women; Madison Kimrey, women’s rights activist, student; Kimberley A. Johnson, author (standing); Diana Danis, Co-Founder, Changing Governmental Gender Paradigms.Hyattsville, Md-based ArtWorks hosted an umbrella painting station. The ERA has been described as an “umbrella” for anti-sex discrimination and gender equality laws.Author Kimberley A. Johnson addresses the crowd.Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq., National Chair of the National Congress of Black Women, addresses the crowd.ERA Activist, 13-year-old, Madison Kimrey takes the stage.Jill Troutner of the Women Veterans Initiative reads the names of fallen soldiers.The ERA Constitution Day Rally began with an emotional reading of fallen female soldiers from the Vietnam War until today.Capital Blend a capella group gets the crowd dancing with their rendition of “Girl On Fire” by Alicia Keys.“Don’t Tread On My Va Jay Jay”Feminist Majority President and Keynote Speaker, Eleanor Smeal, addresses the crowd.Paige McKinsey, University of Mary Washington and former FMF intern paints ERA umbrella.
Students of University of Mary Washington pictured with Feminist Majority President, Eleanor Smeal, and National Organization for Women President, Terry O’Neill.From left, Kimberly Inez McGuire, Director of Public Affairs for the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH); Alaina LaTourette, Vice President & Co-Chair, We Are Woman; Emmy Rivera, Rally MC, writer, comedian.>”When Men Are Oppressed, It’s a Tragedy. When Women Are Oppressed, It’s Tradition.”More students for the ERA.Frostburg students for the ERA.University of Mary Washington students for the ERA.Monica Raye Simpson, Executive Director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.Mary, pictured here under the front-right umbrella, said these ERA umbrellas took 8 hours to make.“We Need 3 More” – Unratified states umbrella.A sea of ERA umbrellas shields the crowd from, at times, heavy downpours.ERA supporters and activists. Pictured second from left, Desiree Jordan, founder of Unite Women New York. Coline Jenkins, pictured third from the left, is the great, great-grandaughter of early women’s suffragist leader, Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
It’s great to see so many young people advocating for the ERA.