With DEI under assault, the ERA is still needed. But Florida never passed it | Opinion
Diversity, equity and inclusion are under attack by our government in Florida — attacks on equality for all. In the 1970s, such assaults were the reason Florida considered the Equal Rights Amendment.
Here is what happened when it failed in 1979:
Florida found itself at the center of a major political issue in March 1972. Congress had voted for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution establishing equal rights for all citizens. The vote for the ERA was supported by more than two-thirds of those voting in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The procedure for full ratification required two-thirds of the state legislatures to concur within seven years, or by March 1979.
I first became aware of the ERA as a political issue when running for a seat in the Florida Legislature in 1972. From my study of the issue, it seemed pretty straightforward that there was a need for equal rights for all U.S. citizens in America. I occasionally heard examples of potential problems with language in the ERA, but that seemed to be easy to correct, if valid, by statute. I took a firm position supporting its adoption.
In 1978, as a member of the state House of Representatives, I became a candidate for District 38 (Miami and the Florida Keys) in the Florida Senate, running against incumbent Ralph Poston. Poston has publicly supported the ERA and was a co-sponsor of the legislation.
But in 1977, Poston became embroiled in a business conflict, allegedly using his office for personal gain. The rules chairman, Sen. Dempsey Barron, a vocal critic of the ERA, voiced support for Poston’s innocence of the ethics charge, suggesting the matter be dropped from further Senate consideration. Without notice, Poston switched his vote to No, and the ERA failed by 19-21.
At the end of the 1977 session, a citizen filed a formal complaint against Poston’s alleged conflict, and the Senate elected to ask Attorney General Bob Shevin to try the case. Poston was reprimanded by the Florida Senate, but he lost his re-election bid to me. Although I became an additional vote for the ERA, Rules Chairman Barron also won several seats for anti-ERA senators.
When the Senate vote was held in 1979 on the ERA, it again lost, this time by two votes. The ERA finally was adopted by the required 38 states in 2020, 41 years past the 1979 deadline. Florida is one of 15 states to never ratify it.
I recall two of my colleagues in the Legislature, Sen. Jack Gordon and Rep. Elaine Gordon predicted 44 years ago that the ERA was needed to protect equality for all in Florida.
They were so right.
Robert W. McKnight served in the Florida Senate from 1978-82 and the Florida House of Representatives from 1974-1978, representing Miami and the Florida Keys. He lives in Tallahassee and writes the blog Bob McKnight’s Florida Commentary.
