You Can't Fool Mother Nature
STOP ERA
Equal Rights Amendment
STOP ERA IN FLORIDA
A SPECIAL PROJECT OF
THE CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS, INC.
7777 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, Virginia 22043
State Archives of Florida: Series 79, Box 1, Folder 36
A conservative caucus voter's guide to the Florida senate.
ca. 1970s
Passed by Congress in 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) proposed that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex." Though 35 states had ratified the ERA by the extended 1982 deadline, it still needed the support of a three-fourths majority, or 38 states, to amend the U.S. Constitution. In Florida, the amendment was introduced or voted on in every legislative session from 1972 until 1982. Though it passed the Florida House of Representatives on several occasions, it never passed the Senate. With the deadline fast approaching, Florida was one of four states to hold a special legislative session to decide on the fate of the ERA in the summer of 1982. While it passed the House (60-58), it again failed in the Senate with a 22-16 vote against ratification. It did not pass any of the other three state legislatures in special session that summer, and the ERA was defeated as a constitutional amendment.