Local Democratic officials are promoting the New York Equal Rights Amendment at a series of public meetings hosted by State Assembly Member Charles D. Lavine.
The Equal Rights Amendment, also known as Prop 1, will update section 11 of the New York State Constitution to include protections for gender, age, ethnicity, pregnancy status, disability status and the LGBTQ+ community.
“In part of the state Constitution, section 11, equal rights cannot be denied because of race, religion and creed by the state or any private firm,” Lavine said. “As important as those rights are, we know that we have to do everything we can to protect ourselves in New York State.”
For the first meeting at the Bryant Library, Lavine was joined by state Assembly Member Gina Sillitti, Democratic Committeeman Robert Zimmerman, state Senate District 7 candidate Kim Keiserman and Arlo Fleischer, the Nassau Regional Organizer of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Prop 1 is facing opposition from Republicans such as former Rep. Lee Zeldin, who say the amendment’s broad language about preventing discrimination on grounds including sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression could have implications on issues like transgender boys and men playing with girls and women.
Lavine, Sillitti, and Fleischer said they formed the discussion panel to discuss the proposed amendment and answer attendees’ questions. The panel’s goal was to combat the spread of misinformation and help voters make informed decisions.
Currently, protections for gender, age, ethnicity, pregnancy status, disability status and the LGBTQ+ community are in New York State Law, but not its constitution.
“Prop 1 will permanently protect these rights and make sure that they’re not left out of the state Constitution,” said Fleischer. “This will add ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex. Sex is defined to include things like gender expression, gender identity, pregnancy status and pregnancy outcomes. So it also protects against the criminalization of miscarriages.”
According to a flyer passed out at the meeting, Prop 1’s specific impacts include making sure the government cannot discriminate against older, pregnant or LGBTQ+ New Yorkers when it comes to hiring, promotions or pay, helping domestic abuse victims hold their abusers accountable in court and provides access to reproductive health care. Reproductive health care includes abortion, birth control and IVF.
“We’re not creating anything new. We’re taking gender and the New York Reproductive Act, and we’re putting it into the Constitution so it’s constitutionally protected, in addition to race, religion and creed,” Sillitti said.
The Equal Rights Amendment will appear on the ballot this November.
“This is really just protecting the rights that we already have in New York State and preventing them from being rolled back,” Fleischer said. “This is particularly important to us right now at a time when we’re seeing politicians across the nation rolling back these rights and restricting these rights.”
To make a constitutional change in New York, the proposition has to go through two sessions of the Legislature and an election in between before it goes to the voters, Sillitti said.
“If the legislature in New York State were to go after these rights in the constitution, it would be much harder to do so because it would require going through a whole process of passing a constitutional amendment again,” Fleischer said.
Lavine is offering five more community meetings for residents across the county to attend.
- Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Gold Coast Public Library (50 Railroad Ave., Glen Head)
- Thursday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. at the Oyster Bay Community Center (59 Church St., Oyster Bay)
- Tuesday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Hicksville Public Library (169 Jerusalem Ave., Hicksville)
- Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library (999 Old County Rd., Plainview)
- Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. at the Westbury Memorial Public Library (445 Jefferson St., Westbury)
