The ERA: A Brief Introduction
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.
Why would anyone be against this is beyond me?
The intention of this amendment wasn't to force any radical social agenda down the nation's throat, but it would've had that effect regardless of the intentions of its proponents. For example, same-sex marriage would be allowed under the ERA. After all, aren't prohibitions on same-sex marriage basically a denial of "equal rights" on the basis of sex? A female draft would've been unavoidable. Excluded women from the draft is a tacit suggestion that women are less capable of serving in the military than men and could very logically be construed as a violation of the "equal rights" of men and women. This isn't a dead issue. The draft could come back in a time of national emergency.
The ERA would also have turned sexual discrimination into a federal issue. It would no doubt lead to the same kinds of gender quotas that plague schools as a result of Title IX. In fact, imagine the nightmare of Title IX magnified to every facet of existence. It would elimate alimony and child support.
On top of that, it's unnecessary. All the basic rights of women are already protected in the 27 amendments to the constitution already ratified. The equal protection clause of the 14th amendment makes it clear that those rights extend to women as well as men.
