Greetings EQUAL MEANS EQUAL members! Spring and the ERA Centennial are truly in full swing, so let’s hop right into it 🙂
Up First – HUGE THANK YOU to the City of West Hollywood for hosting the #ERA100 Birthday Bash on March 22 to launch our year-long campaign of Centennial Celebrations! Joined by friends old and new we were treated not only to cake and camaraderie, but an Official Proclamation declaring the ERA ratified and ready for immediate publication to the Constitution, presented by Mayor Sepi Shyne herself.
Our friends from Moby Arts L.A., including EME Art Consultant Natily Gonzalez, designer Marco Durante, and activist legend Zoe Nicholson were among the many who turned out to show the ERA some birthday love and join the movement to put it where it belongs – in the U.S. Constitution.
The party didn’t stop with the ERA 100 Birthday Bash though, we continued to celebrate women and equality at the 26th Annual Women in Leadership Awards.That evening Patricia Arquette joined our very own Kamala Lopez as a Lifetime Achievement Award Winner.
Celebrating and educating each other on how we can make a difference in our own communities and across the country is so important; a fact highlighted in the Annual Report on the Status of Women and Girls in California, which was also released to a sold out crowd at the Skirball center that very afternoon.
We kept the momentum rolling and headed back to the East Coast for the announcement of the first ever Equal Rights Amendment Congressional Caucus. If you happened to be in Washington DC on March 31st you may have noticed it was exceptionally hard to get around that afternoon; that’s because we joined the kids of Generation Ratify to “Shut It Down for the ERA” and did we ever. Happy Hour was over before the police were able to get traffic patterns back to normal, all without any violence or unrest – the power of positivity prevails again! 
Every. Single. Day. We reach more and more people with the truth about the ERA and are inspiring people to action from coast to coast. In just a few short months we have had the first Senate hearing on the ERA in 40 years and the creation of the first ever ERA Congressional Caucus, a HUGE leap in coverage in the mainstream media and public interest, multiple successful public actions and the launch of the nationwide outreach and education campaign, #ERA100.
The ERA is well and clearly back in the spotlight, and a lot of the credit for that goes to ALL OF YOU. It is you, our loyal supporters who have kept the flame lit and the dream alive to even get us to this point and for that we thank you so much.
EQUAL MEANS EQUAL has always been the one leading the charge when it comes to ACTION. We are the ones who stood silently in DC as Sentinels, and rode a white horse to the White House to make our Proclamation, who drove around in the ice cream truck in Virginia, and filed the first lawsuit; the ones to stand up to Senator Graham and the ERA’s obvious enemies, and to push its more timid supporters where we need to go – Publication.
We couldn’t and can’t do all of this without your help. Make no mistake, we are at a turning point not just in this movement, but this Nation. Much like the 14th, 15th, and 19th amendments, the 28th Amendment would be a monumental and lasting step forward for this country. It squares the circle, providing the final pillar that is needed for lasting change and true equality, it is the END GAME.
You have already won your Equal Rights and Protections in the Constitution, it’s time to FREE THEM.
There are SO many ways to get involved and every dollar helps. You’re already at the party, it’s time to start dancing.
