Bridge StaffBy Susan Sussman
Finally! On Election Day, Nov. 3, Vermonters have the opportunity to vote to add a long-overdue Equal Rights Amendment to our Vermont Constitution. If passed by a majority of Vermont voters, Vermont can join the 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 biennials, 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 to 0, while the House passed it by a commanding majority vote of 128 to 14. What a wonderful expression of bipartisan solidarity by our state legislature!
According to the Vermont 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 — 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 version of the Equal Rights Ammendment has passed all the hurdles to be added to the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. 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 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 the citizens of Vermont will agree and vote in support of Article 23 as we go to the polls on Nov. 3.
Susan M. Sussman is the former executive director of the Human Rights Commission and current commissioner of the Vermont Commission on Women; she lives in Middlesex.
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