Vote YES on Prop 1

Long before I was born in 1987 my mother worked valiantly to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the US Constitution. She was at the Illinois Capitol in 1982 when the legislature failed to ratify the amendment, effectively ending its chance of success at the national level.

And now here we are, more than 40 years later. The effort to amend the US Constitution remains but many states, including New York, have taken matters into their own hands. This election, New York voters now have a chance to make our state’s ERA one of the most inclusive in the country – adding “ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, or sex” to the list of characteristics that are protected (a list that currently include “race, color, creed, or religion”) and for which discrimination is specifically illegal.

My mother is now a grandmother to 1 (soon to be 2) girls – for all 3 of them and for every other resident of the state who would benefit from this amendment (which in reality would be us all) I implore you to vote YES on Prop 1.

Katherine Bannor

 Clinton, NY