New York State has on its books the most egregious abortion law in the nation. It codifies partial birth abortion, which the late New York Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, described “as close to infanticide as anything I have come upon.”
But that law is not enough for the radicals who control the state Legislature.
In 2022 and 2023, the Democrats engineered the passage of a legislative resolution—that does not require the approval of the governor—to place on the election ballot a so-called Equal Rights Amendment.
Following the State Constitution, the resolution was approved by two consecutive legislatures in 2022 and 2023. However, instead of placing the amendment on the off-year November 2023 election ballot, the Legislature made an unprecedented maneuver—it delayed placement until 2024, a presidential and legislative election year when turnout of leftists is much higher.
The amendment, known as “Proposition One,” has two parts. The first paragraph changes the 1938 equal protection language that forbids discrimination based on “race, color, creed, or religion.” It adds the following protected classes: “ethnicity, national origins, age, disability…or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcome, and reproductive health care and autonomy.”
The inclusion of the terms, “gender identity” and “gender expression,” opens the door for biological males, who feel like women, to participate in female sports.
The amendment would permit public school administrators and teachers to aid children seeking gender transitions without parental consent. It would also allow minors to pursue hormonal treatments and sex changing surgery. And it may make New York a permanent Sanctuary State.
The second paragraph in the amendment is also dangerous. It reads:
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 the section be interpreted to interfere with, limit, or deny the civil rights of any person based upon any other characteristic identified in this section.
The italicized words could open Pandora’s Box. That intersectional code language would prohibit the considering of merit. For example, New York City’s top public high schools (i.e., Bronx School of Science) would have to eliminate competitive entrance examinations. This would reverse discrimination against hardworking students who study and master academic subjects.
The interpretive legislative memo, attached to the proposal by supporters in the state Legislature, clearly states that the intent is to “prevent or dismantle structural forms of inequality and discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics like race or sex.”
The memo also boasts that the amendment would expand “the list of classes affirmatively protected by New York Constitution in recognition of the need for comprehensive, and enforceable, and intersectional equality under the law.”
What you may ask is “intersectionality”?
The term was coined by the “critical race theory” professor, Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989. The theory alleges that minorities, women, LGBTQ, disabled, etc. are not individual persons but are collections of overlapping oppressed identities entitled to special rights and privileges.
That means this Constitutional amendment could threaten equal rights by giving the state Legislature the license to practice reverse discrimination in order “to prevent or dismantle discrimination.” “In other words,” The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has noted “it could be OK to discriminate against white applicants for a job if by doing so it would enhance the chances of people of color landing the position.”
Under this amendment the state Legislature would be able to pass laws that would create new forms of discrimination, including set asides, quotas, and reparations. It would promote and foster the excesses of “wokeness” and DEI at the expense of every person’s rights.
The Proposition 1 Constitutional Amendment that will appear on the Election Day voting ballot is harmful for all New Yorkers.
Make sure you vote “NO” on Nov. 5.
