13-year-old to McConnell: The ERA is long overdue

I have a message for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: Pass Senate Joint Resolution 6 (SJ Res 6). SJ Res 6 would remove the time limit imposed in 1972 on the Equal Rights Amendment for ratification by the states.

In 1978, the deadline was extended for another three years. This limit ended in 1982, with 35 states having ratified the ERA by that time. In the past few years, Nevada, Illinois and Virginia voted to ratify the ERA, bringing the total to 38 states, the number of states required to enact an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But the Senate must pass SJ Res 6 so that the ratification votes of these three remaining states will be recognized and so that the ERA will be placed in our Constitution.

As a girl growing up in this country, I am here to fight for my fundamental human rights. I should not be discriminated against because of my gender. The ERA will protect everyone’s human rights, something that should have been established a long time ago. Since the ERA was first introduced in 1923, we have been fighting, and long before then as well for the right to vote, the right to be free, the right to be whoever we want to be.

Senator Mitch McConnell, pass SJ Res 6 immediately. Do it for those you see who have been discriminated against because of their gender. Do it to protect the rights of those in your family. Do it because you are an elected official in the Senate to protect your constituents’ rights.

The ERA is long overdue, senator.

Marisol Pierce Bonifaz, 13

Amherst