ERA Rally at the Capitol on International Women's Day!

ERA Rally at the Capitol on International Women's Day!

ERA MN and Women's March MN thank you!!  Because of all of you we had a GREAT event at the Capitol yesterday!  We accomplished what we set out to do:

• 100's of you contacted your legislators to let them know you demand an ERA now!
• we had an energy filled rally -- with great speakers from our legislature and partner organizations!
• many legislators -- supporter and bill authors --  took time out to attend the rally and publicly show their support for the ERA
• we drew the attention of many news sources -- letting them know that we will be heard, that this is (still) an issue of great importance and we are not going away -- who did pieces and articles about the ERA and women's rights and brought our movement (and the fact that there isn't an Equal Rights Amendment) to the attention to many, many more!

Some of our legislators/bill authors & co-authors attended and/or addressed the crowd to great applause and cheering:​

• Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein
• Rep. Ilhan Omar
• Rep. Rena Moran
• Sen. Sandy Pappas 
• Sen. Dick Cohen
• Sen. Scott Dibble
• Rep. Erin Murphy
• Rep. Frank Hornstein
• Sen. Carolyn Laine
• Rep. Karen Clark
• Rep. Lyndon Carlson
• Sen. Jeff Hayden

St. Paul Council Women, Jane Prince address the crowd -- announcing that St. Paul passed a resolution calling on "the Minnesota Senate and House to pass a bill for an act proposing an amendment to the Minnesota Constitution, known as the Equal Rights Amendment, providing for gender equality under the law."  She then challenged other cities to do the same.  [Find a template of the resolution to bring to your city council.]

LaDonna Redmond, community organizer and activist, gave an inspirational speech and rose the energy level of the room another notch!  Brad Gangnon challenged other men to step up in support and be heard.

Our partner organizations shared a little about their organization and why an ERA is needed:

• Shari Parsons - AAUW
• Lisa Straton - Gender Justice
• Beth Anderson - MN NOW
• Bri Sharkey-Smith - MSP NOW
• Kabo Yang - MN Women's Consortium
• Asma Mohammed - RISE
• Mary Ellen Kasaz-Saxter - St. Croix Valley Women's Alliance
• Ruben Vazquez - YWCA

Thanks to everyone for coming, for talking to their legislators, for authoring bills, for speaking to the crowd and for fighting for and Equal Rights Amendment in Minnesota!!

In solidarity -- ERA MN & Women's March MN

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