The ERA Loses Two More Rounds

After Oklahoma and Georgia, it seems out for the count

The matter before the Oklahoma senate last Tuesday afternoon: a motion to reconsider its earlier decision not to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. As the roll call was taken, women in the packed galleries sat quietly. Then came the tally: 27 to 21 against. In the balcony a small group of ERA supporters chanted slogans and unfurled a yellow banner picturing a pioneer woman and carrying the words EQUALITY DENIED 1982. Barely a day later, a similar scene unfolded in the Georgia house. The gallery was hushed as a red or green light flashed next to lawmakers' names on the voting board. The final vote: 116 to 57 against. ERA backers stood and silently filed out. With those defeats in Oklahoma and Georgia, the proposed 27th Amendment to the Constitution may have lost its last hope for ratification.

It is unclear whether any other state will vote on, much less pass, the amendment before the June 30 deadline. Only 35 of the needed 38 states have approved it so far, and five of these have tried to rescind their votes. ERA activists continue the fight, most strongly in Florida, Missouri and Illinois. In the latter state, supporters hope to force a rules change that would require only a simple majority rather than a three-fifths vote of the state legislature to approve a constitutional amendment. Pro-ERA forces waged a vigorous campaign in Oklahoma, where the amendment was thought to have the strongest chance for passage. Governor George Nigh and the leadership of both houses of the state legislature supported the measure. Pro-ERA groups ran radio, television and newspaper ads, took polls and organized door-to-door canvassing. The requisite celebrities (Valerie Harper, Marlo Thomas, Phil Donahue, Alan Alda) and politicians (former Vice President Walter Mondale) made appeals in person. Senators were bombarded with letters and phone calls, and streams of visitors turned up at their offices.

A major task was simply familiarizing the public with the amendment itself. The Daily Oklahoman released the results of a poll showing that Oklahomans favored the ERA by a slim margin. In the same poll, residents were asked their opinion of this unidentified passage: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." Eighty percent approved, many not knowing that they were endorsing the wording of the ERA.

Opponents rallied hard as well, deluging legislators with warnings that the ERA disturbed the "divine order" and had objectionable "consequences": unisex toilets, abolition of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, homosexual marriages, a military draft for women. Their arguments evidently got a sympathetic hearing. Said Senator Norman Lamb: "I hope and pray that women, ladies and girls will not be dragged down to the level of men by the passage of the 27th Amendment." The ERA's broad constitutional language worked against it in the end. Said Darlene Ramming of Hinton, Okla.: "It doesn't say enough. It's like a blank check."

The last-ditch effort to ratify the ERA was much the same in Georgia. Former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and their wives endorsed the amendment. Almost 6,000 people in Athens, Ga., participated in a 72-hr. pro-ERA letter-writing marathon. There were fund raisers and a march to the capital in frigid weather (the inscription on one placard: FREEZING FOR A REASON). Opponents delivered to legislators 22,000 signed cards bearing the message "Please be a 'peach' and vote 'no' on ERA." When it came down to the vote in the house, it was clear the battle was one-sided. Opponents were so confident of victory that only one critic spoke out against passage. As it turned out, proponents mustered 13 fewer votes than they did in 1974, when the measure was last put to a vote in the house.

The defeats were greeted with satisfaction but little gloating by ERA opponents. Said Ann Patterson, who headed the anti-ERA drive in Oklahoma: "We have dishes to wash and Christmas decorations to take down." Supporters of the amendment vowed to keep pressing their cause. In Georgia they plan to challenge the obstructionist legislators at the polls in November. "They may see a few tears today," said Sherry Schulman, leader of the state ERA forces, "but what they're going to get later is rage." In Oklahoma a longshot effort was under way to persuade the house to consider the amendment. Said ERA Activist Ruth Adams: "We haven't lost, we just haven't won yet."

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