Mayor Bass Signs Equal Rights Amendment Petition Alongside Women’s Rights Champions

Mayor Bass Signs Equal Rights Amendment Petition Alongside Women’s Rights Champions 

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass today became the first big city mayor of California to sign the national petition in support of the Equal Right Amendment or ERA, a constitutional amendment to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sex. Mayor Bass signed the petition alongside former Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney as well as City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto, labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, co-founder and President of the Feminist Majority Foundation Eleanor Smeal, and Executive Director of the Feminist Majority Foundation Kathy Spillar. The ERA underscores three key issues of reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence and economic fairness. 

“We need an Equal Rights Amendment now more than ever,” said Mayor Karen Bass. “Our very rights as women are on the table, and we need to work relentlessly to ensure that they are protected. Thank you to my friend and former colleague Congresswoman Maloney for all of your work championing this Amendment, and thank you to Dolores and to our City Attorney for joining me in this signing. Today we make a call to action for people across the country to join us in this important movement.”

Mayor Bass is the first woman and second African American to serve as Mayor of Los Angeles. Sign4ERA is a grassroots campaign to move Congress to ratify ERA as the 28th Amendment and is endorsed by more than 40 organizations, including the ERA Coalition, civil rights and human rights groups, mayors, and campus, religious, and civic groups. The petition drive was launched by Hunter College students and ERA activists at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute in New York City. Nearly 100,000 have joined Sign4ERA since. Sign4ERA’s ultimate goal is to reach 1 million signatures, following plans to expand its social media presence and engage supporters through a variety of community events.