RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, on March 22,1972 a proposed Amendment to the United States Constitution stating that the equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex ("Equal Rights Amendment") was adopted by the 92nd Congress of the United States; and
WHEREAS, in accordance with Article V of the United States Constitution the Equal Rights Amendment was put to the Legislatures of the several states for ratification, needing three-fourths of all the states to ratify in order to be adopted; and
WHEREAS, to date thirty-six states have ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, leaving the Amendment two states short of what is necessary for ratification; and
WHEREAS, on May 12,1980, 50,000 women gathered in Grant Park to advocate for the adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment; and
WHEREAS, on April 13, 2018, the Illinois Senate adopted Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 4 concerning the Equal Rights Amendment; and
WHEREAS, a two-thirds majority of the Illinois House of Representatives is necessary in order for the State of Illinois to officially ratify the Amendment; and
WHEREAS, the Governor of the State of Illinois to date has been unwilling to articulate his position on the Equal Rights Amendment; and
WHEREAS, in the forty-six years since the Amendment was put to the states, despite progress, discrimination against women continues to be an issue of paramount importance in the workplace, in education, and in the halls of government, showing that full equality for women continues to be a dream but not a reality in the United States; and
WHEREAS, both the Illinois State Constitution and Chicago Municipal Code explicitly provide equal protection for all residents, regardless of sex; and
WHEREAS, despite best efforts on the part of the governments of the State of Illinois and City of Chicago, the guarantee of equal rights regardless of sex by the supreme law of the land will afford all Americans a level of protection that can only be granted by the United States Constitution; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, assembled this twenty-third day of May, 2018, do hereby call upon the Illinois House of Representatives to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment on behalf of the State of Illinois; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the Governor of the State of Illinois, the President of the Illinois Senate, the Minority Leader of the Illinois Senate, the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the Illinois House of Representatives, and each member of the Illinois Congressional delegation as a sign of our dedication to this fundamentally important issue.