John, this email is a bit lengthy, but trust us, it’s important.

Have you heard of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)? It’s the 28th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution, introduced in 1923 to protect women and other marginalized genders from discrimination (we’ve included an image of the document from the National Archives at the end of this email).

Here’s the good news: 
Since its proposal in 1972 by the constitutionally required two-thirds of both the House and the Senate, the ERA passed the required second step of the amending process of ratification by the three-fourths of the states necessary, or 38 states.

Following Illinois’ ratification in 2018, Virginia followed suit in 2020. Illinois’ leadership and a powerful coalition of advocates for the ERA across the country made it happen.

The not-so-good news: 
The White House has yet to recognize the ERA as our 28th Amendment — it must be published by the U.S. archivist, as part of their ministerial duties, for it to be officially adopted.

Additionally, the ERA is being held up by lawsuits brought by opponents of the law and bad-faith arguments that it missed an arbitrary 7 to 10 year deadline for states’ ratification — but this so-called “ERA deadline” is without merit in the Constitution. Furthermore, it took over 200 years for the 27th Amendment to be ratified.

The bottom line: 
The ERA has satisfied the necessary constitutional requirements for its addition to the U.S. Constitution. The law will enshrine equal rights in the Constitution as stated in the amendment: “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

John, Illinois and advocates have helped get the Equal Rights Amendment this far. Now, a century since its introduction, we need more voices to amplify the call for the White House to officially recognize the ERA as our 28th Amendment. Will you sign your name to our petition — in the name of constitutional equality — calling on the White House to finish the job?

Thank you for joining our call. We can get this done if we work together.

— Team Underwood

P.S. Here’s the joint resolution of the Equal Rights Amendment dated December 13, 1923: