Our state constitution protects all of us.
Our New York State Constitution will be adding broad protections for every New Yorker. The New York State Constitution will prohibit discrimination against groups who have been historically targeted, including those with disabilities, LGBTQI+ individuals, immigrants, women, and pregnant people.
How NYS Counties Voted
Thank you to the Daily Gazette for the graphics! And Reporter Tyler A. McNeil.
The History behind the League getting the NY ERA Back on Ballot
On May 7, 2024, a judge ruled in a lawsuit filed in a Livingston County Supreme Court. The lawsuit claimed that the Legislature did not follow correct procedure under the State Constitution to get the Amendment on the ballot. Justice Daniel J. Doyle sided with plaintiff Assemblymember Marjorie Byrnes, and declared the amendment be removed from the ballot. Attorney General Letitia James immediately appealed the judge’s decision.
On May 31, 2024 the League filed a proposed Amicus Brief in support of the Attorney General’s appeal to get the amendment back on the ballot. Read the proposed amicus here.
Adding an Equal Rights Amendment to our state constitution will:
- Broadly prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, disability, age, or sex including pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes, reproductive health care and autonomy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
- Explicitly include language to clarify that discrimination based on a person’s pregnancy or pregnancy outcome is sex discrimination – this is crucial given the national trend of criminalizing people for various pregnancy outcomes, as well as the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
- Ensure comprehensive and inclusive equal protections that will guard against attacks on our rights from the federal government or federal judges, including threats to the legal equality of LGBTQI+ people.
Read the text of the Amendment below:
A. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws of this state or any subdivision thereof. No person shall, because of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed [or], religion, or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy, be subjected to any discrimination in [his or her] their civil rights by any other person or by any firm, corporation, or institution, or by the state or any agency or subdivision of the state, pursuant to law.
B. Nothing in this section shall invalidate or prevent the adoption of any law, regulation, program, or practice that is designed to prevent or dismantle discrimination on the basis of a characteristic listed in this section, nor shall any characteristic listed in this section be interpreted to interfere with, limit, or deny the civil rights of any person based upon any other characteristic identified in this section.
Coming Soon!