After making her Broadway debut in the musical Chicago in New York City, Hollywood star Alyssa Milano (Charmed, Who’s the Boss?) is back on social media where she often voices her political concerns.
On Tuesday, Milano amplified photos of a group of young women sitting in the middle of Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., and then on their feet being arrested by Capitol Police.
The photos were provided by The Feminist Front, a youth organization of 15-to-35 year-olds who fight for gender and racial justice.
The caption reads: “BREAKING: Feminists, led by youth, get arrested and rally in D.C. on Constitution Ave. demanding President Biden publish the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) now…Protect us from Trump.”
[NOTE: It’s not clear which specific protections “from Trump” the protestors seek, though the incoming Trump administration is already targeting DEI initiatives that seek to increase race and gender parity. Trump 2.0 is also seen as a further threat to women’s reproductive rights.]
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which was written and introduced to Congress in 1923, would guarantee that discrimination based on sex is not permitted in the United States. In 1972, it was reintroduced, approved by Congress and then sent to state legislatures for ratification. A total of 38 states need to ratify the amendment: it fell short, with 30 states ratifying the ERA within a year, and five more joining by 1977.
A deadline in 1982 came with no further ratifications. Renewed interest in the ERA more recently coincided with Trump’s first election — Nevada ratified the amendment in 2017, the first state to do so since 1977.
Other states like Illinois and Virginia have since also ratified, while six states rescinded their ratifications since the ERA was introduced: the first five (Nebraska, Tennessee, Idaho, Kentucky, South Dakota) rescinded in the late 1970s; the most recent state to rescind is North Dakota in 2021.
Prior to the group arrest, Milano also shared the photos below, of many of the same Feminist Front members delivering more than 200,000 letters to the offices of New York Representatives Mike Lawler (Rockland & Westchester counties) and Nick Lalota (Long Island). The letters urge Lawler and Lalota to sign Discharge Petition 6 and to ensure HJ Res 25 — removing the ERA ratification deadline — is brought to the floor for a vote.