Fight Over Prop 1 Ramps Up as Democrats Rally to Support its Passage

A wide range of high-profile Democrats rallied last weekend in support of New York’s Equal Rights Amendment, arguing that the proposition on next month’s ballot would protect a larger swath of the population.

Proposition 1 would extend protections in the state constitution against unequal treatment to include ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes and reproductive healthcare and autonomy. Currently, the state constitution offers protections based on race, creed, color or religion.

The highly-charged debate over Proposition 1 continues to spark the passions of elected officials and candidates and their supporters in both major parties. Many Democrats have framed the argument that its passage is needed to protect abortion rights. Meanwhile, many Republicans have argued Proposition 1 would allow boys and those who identify as male to compete against girls in school athletics, jeopardizing girls’ sports and scholarships.

“Prop 1 will make sure that our state constitution protects full equality for all New Yorkers, and full reproductive rights that, of course, include abortion and contraception,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said at Saturday’s rally in Yonkers, one of two Westchester rallied in support of the measure.

On Sunday, there was another rally in Yorktown with a different set of Democratic officeholders and candidates and advocates turning out to urge support for the initiative.

Among the speakers at Saturday’s rally near the Yonkers train station attended by more than 50 supporters braving a light but persistent rain was U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, state Attorney General Letitia James and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

As expected, most of the speakers focused on abortion, one of the key issues this election cycle since the 2022 Dobbs decision by the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Stewart-Cousins said when women gained the right to abortion in New York in 1970, it received broad bipartisan support, but by the time she arrived in the Senate in 2007 hoping to update the law, Stewart-Cousins said her Republican colleagues argued revisions weren’t necessary because Roe v. Wade was settled law.

Proposition 1 received no support from any Republican legislator in Albany, she said, and now the GOP has been rolling back abortion and reproductive rights in states across the country. According to Lieberman, more than 25 million women now live in states where abortion is completely or almost completely banned.

“What we are up against is the well-funded extremist anti-abortion playbook of fearmongering and lies,” Stewart-Cousins said. “So good laws just aren’t good enough. We need abortion in our constitution. We need our equal rights protected in our constitution.”

James added that if voters approve the proposition, it would take the decision-making regarding personal health matters such as abortion out of the hands of politicians. She also cited how two Georgia women died recently that could be attributed to that state’s strict abortion laws.

“Voting yes on Prop 1 means New Yorkers will never tell a health care provider to deny care until a patient is one inch away from death, as what happened in Georgia,” James said. “Not in this state. New York will always be the place, the beacon of liberty of freedom of individual rights.”

Tricia Lindsay, who is challenging state Sen. Shelley Mayer in the 37^th District, said she opposes Proposition 1 because there are many other negative consequences that could impact New Yorkers besides allowing male students or those who identify as male to play on girls’ athletic teams.

She said the language of the amendment could spawn challenges where funding for senior programs could be at risk, for example. Lindsay, an attorney, predicted there would be a wave of lawsuits stemming from the proposition.

Lindsay also called the Democrats’ emphasis on abortion a “smokescreen to have everyone focus on this one issue” and divert the public’s attention. Meanwhile, by having age and gender identity included the amendment, it could conflict with existing laws, such as allowing minors the right to transgender and medical interventions without parental consent.

“They know exactly what they’re doing because the bills are lined up because a number of them were defeated. People spoke out against it,” Lindsay said. “I was one who was a part of those groups, who demanded that the bills not pass. So they know. By putting it in the constitution now it changes the game.”

The state Republican Committee said all the new categories that are listed in Proposition 1 are protected from discrimination under current law. The additional protections would grant greater legal status to some while creating conflict with other laws and rights.

“New York’s Democrats rushed to propose a constitutional amendment and disregarded key process steps required by New York’s Constitution,” a statement from the Republican Committee read. “The legislature never even held a single hearing on the proposal or consulted legal and constitutional scholars as to its impact. They completed the process in 2023 but cynically placed the amendment on the ballot to coincide with the 2024 presidential election.”

But Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who also attended last Saturday’s rally, called the Republicans’ opposition to the “bulls—” to try and scare the public. A quarter-century ago, there were arguments about what could potentially happen with the creation of the county’s Human Rights Commission, none of which came to fruition, he said.

Latimer, who is heavily favored to win the 16^th Congressional District seat next month, said “we are going to win this because we are morally and intellectually right.”

“The far right is under attack and they do not take this lightly,” Latimer said. “We can’t take it lightly in response. We will have friends that will say to us ‘Isn’t this going too far? Aren’t we giving extra privileges?’ No, we’re trying to correct longtime prejudices and behaviors by having fair treatment across the board.”