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Anne Gass of Gray is the author of “Voting Down the Rose: Florence Brooks Whitehouse and Maine’s Fight for Woman Suffrage,” a book about her great-grandmother.
In their Valentine’s Day opinion column opposing the Maine Equal Rights Amendment, Reps. Kathy Javner and Jennifer Poirier show no love for women — and little for the truth. Instead, they make ridiculous claims.
There are 26 states nationally that have enshrined women’s equality in their constitutions. None of those states has moved to fully integrate locker rooms or sports teams. That’s just silly. Nor are there any examples anywhere of women and men sharing prison cells due to states making women equal to men.
In her testimony at the Joint Committee on the Judiciary’s hearing on the Maine amendment, Maine Human Rights Commission Executive Director Amy Sneirson said it best; “The constitution was created for men by men. The default is that discrimination that is not prohibited is legal.” This leaves the door wide open for any sex discrimination that legislation or legal decisions have not explicitly made illegal.
It seems that Javner and Poirier would prefer to see women go on bended knee to the Legislature for relief from sex discrimination every time an issue arises. Why? Why not simply accept that women are equal to men, and make it so under the foundational document of our state?
Do women pay taxes equally with men? We sure do. Women have been superheroes in this pandemic, trying to keep their families going, especially those with school-age children or elderly parents to care for. Women also serve our country in the military, in all kinds of ways.
We depend on women for so much. Why, then, is it right or fair to keep sex discrimination legal?
There is nothing “extreme” or “far-reaching” about the Maine Equal Rights Amendment bill. Here’s what it actually says: “Equality of rights under the law may not be denied or abridged by the State or any political subdivision of the State based on the sex of an individual. The Legislature has the power to enforce this section by appropriate legislation.”
That’s it. It’s a simple statement that corrects a centuries-old wrong, and there is absolutely no better way to do it.
My great-grandmother Florence Brooks Whitehouse carried signs in suffrage demonstrations that said; “Why does [President] Wilson seek votes from women when he opposes votes for women?”
Today, more than a century later, my sign reads “Why do Republicans seek votes from women when they oppose equality for women?” I say this because Republicans in the Maine House — and in the Maine Senate — vote against this amendment when it comes up.
It’s time – it’s way past time – to let the people decide. The Legislature should pass LD 344, the Maine Equal Rights Amendment, in this session and let the voters have their say in November.