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Link to the actual page if you want all the links to work. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&target=209.33.36.146
Equal rights have long been a goal in the United States. In the Declaration of Independence of the United States, the preamble states “that all Men are created equal” and are endowed with “certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Not only does this express the idea of natural rights, as brought about in the Enlightenment, it has also been used to express thought of equality for all people. The most recent development in striving for equal rights on a national level is the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). First proposed in 1972, the ERA was intended to guarantee equal rights under the law for all Americans, regardless of gender. Section one of the proposed amendment states “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” Originally conceived in the 1920s by the suffragists, it had been introduced in every session of Congress from 1923 to 1970. In late 1971, a joint resolution proposing the amendment was passed in the house, soon to be followed by it’s passage in early 1972 by the Senate. Initially, approximately 35 states had ratified the amendment, and five of these would go on to rescind their ratifications. Of the 15 non-ratifying states, at least 8 had the approval of one chamber of their state legislatures. The amendment, when proposed to the states by the 92nd Congress, had a deadline of 7 years, ending in 1979. In 1978, the 95th Congress passed a resolution extending the deadline to mid 1982. Some supporters believe that only 3 states are needed for ratification of the ERA. They contend that the previous 35 approvals are all still valid, and based on the rationale of the 27th amendment, which was passed more than 200 years after proposal, any 3 additional state approvals would be enough to ratify the ERA as a new amendment. Even though the Equal Rights Amendment failed at a national level, it has passed at a state level in some, though not all, states. A total of twenty states have added equal rights amendments to their state constitution. All 20 prohibit discrimination based on gender, 13 add race, national origin, and creed to the list, while 3 of the 13 include an additional provision, physical handicap. Because all states must comply with the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, it may be seen as unnecessary to add an additional amendment to the state constitution when the federal constitution affords similar, though not identical, protection.