Before it was knocked off the ballot by a state Supreme Court justice Tuesday, New York voters were set to decide in November on Proposition 1, also known as New York’s Equal Rights Amendment.
The ERA would solidify abortion rights in the state constitution and expand protections against discrimination against women and LGBTQI+ individuals, among others.
Republicans, led by former Rep. Lee Zeldin, the former Republican candidate for governor, argued Monday that they want New Yorkers to read the amendment carefully because they say there's more in it than they feel Democrats are openly speaking about.
To do that, they teamed up with high-profile former student-athlete Riley Gaines.
A former collegiate swimmer at the University of Kentucky, Gaines said she was forced to compete against Lia Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania swimmer who is a transgender woman.
She said Thomas swam to a NCAA women's national championship beating accomplished female athletes.
“It’s very quickly labeled as anti-trans, or transphobic, but understand that I’m not standing against anything, I’m standing for something,” she said. “I’m not saying one sex is inferior to the other, or superior. It’s merely saying that we are different, and we deserve to be acknowledged and celebrated and honored based on those differences.”
Gaines’ appearance was intended to highlight Zeldin’s suggestion that Democrats are trying to pull a fast one on voters, accusing them of publicly making Proposition 1 all about abortion, when he argues that abortion is already protected by state law.
“This is not an amendment that is all about abortion,” he told reporters. “If they wanted an amendment that’s all about abortion, they should have written one.”
He told Spectrum News 1 that the ERA’s broad language about preventing discrimination on grounds, including sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, could have implications for women and girls like Gaines.
“For those who don’t think we should have transgender boys competing in girls sports, or in girls bathrooms, or locker rooms, if you’re concerned about the amount of constitutional rights granted for people who are illegally in our state or country, it’s important for us to have a conversation about the depths of this,” he said.
State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal fired back.
He emphasized that a constitutional protection for abortion rights in New York was made necessary by the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, effectively leaving the decision up to the states, and that enshrining that protection in the state’s constitution is a step further than current state law.
“The Equal Rights Amendment will codify our efforts in the Democratic state Senate to ensure that women’s reproductive health are enshrined in our state constitution,” he said.
Hoylman-Sigal, who currently has legislation in committee that would require school districts to establish policies and procedures regarding the treatment of transgender or gender non-conforming students, dismissed the idea that Democrats are shying away from other aspects of the ERA, making it clear he feels the protections against discrimination in the amendment that extend beyond abortion are necessary.
“Against LGBTQ New Yorkers, against women, against people who have disabilIties, against many other classes that deserve the full protection of our state constitution,” he said. “Transgender children should not be demagogued by politicians.”
In a recent Siena College Poll, 48% of polled New Yorkers supported allowing parent groups to override educators´ decisions on what books should be available to students, while 69% supported enhancing protections to safeguard members of the LGBTQ community and 66% supported requiring high school athletes to only compete with others of the same sex that they were assigned at birth.