Prince William County leaders couldn’t get behind the Equal Rights Amendment. So, they passed their own version.

WOODBRIDGE — A total of 67 citizens gave impassioned pleas for and against the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) during the Prince William County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.

Woodbridge Supervisor Frank Principi put the item on the agenda, urging his fellow Supervisors to declare support for a constitutional amendment introduced in the early 1970s that aimed to give equal rights to women. After hours of testimony from residents, Principi could not get a single one of the supervisors to second his motion.

The deadline to get three-quarters of U.S. states to ratify the amendment came and went in 1982. Since then, supporters have continued to lobby to get states to approve it, and supporters say Virginia could be the critical state to do so following recent ratifications in Nevada and Illinois.

The main clause in the ERA states: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

The ERA sounds good – a common theme of opponents Tuesday night at the Board of Supervisors meeting that lasted into the early hours of Wednesday morning, was “who doesn’t want equal rights?”

But those in opposition fear that the ERA will have many unintended consequences for issues such as collegiate sports teams, men and women sharing bathrooms and prisons, divorce and alimony proceedings, and abortion.

Julie Stanton of Montclair said she feels like her rights are already protected under the 5th and 14th amendments and says the ERA is a backdoor way for pro-choice groups to get the state to fund abortions.

She asked that the board pay attention to the comments of mothers, especially because it will be affecting women.

Margaret Franklin, of Woodbridge, spoke in support of the ERA.

“This is a critically important issue because everyone should be treated equally under the law…” she said.

Kenny Boddye, of Occoquan, who’s running for the Occoquan District Supervisor seat in 2019, said he wanted to appeal to the supervisors’ hearts and mentioned his own mother’s experience of being paid less as a nurse.

Prince William County School Board Occoquan District member Lilie Jessie is also in favor of the ERA.

“My mother was a maid. She walked in the back door every day,” she said.

Jessie added she was in the marches for her mother and she went to her jail for her mother, but she said it’s still not equal for women.

Dan Lahey, who lives in Prince William County’s Coles District, said that the ERA will correct an error made by the Founding Fathers who neglected the women at their side.

Kelly McGinn, a graduate of UVA law school, testified at the meeting and said the ERA “as drafted in 1972 is an incredibly vague amendment” – and she said nothing in the language will help with wage disparity.

“Equality does not equal sameness,” McGinn said. “If you want lots of lawsuits, this is a great idea.”

She said that the ERA would eliminate WIC [Women, Infants, Children Food and Nutrition Service], domestic abuse shelters, exemptions of women from combat, gender designation for lockers and bathrooms, and make abortions a human right.

Resident Sean Garvey is also opposed.

“This feels a lot like a solution in search of a problem,” he said.

He also cited a recurring statistic that night, about how 80% of people already think women have equal rights. “If 80% of people think we have equal protection for women, this might be because we have equal protection.”

“The worst legislation often has the best marketing,” he added

Amy Latalladi-Fulton spoke in favor of the ERA and said that she played in an all-boys soccer league and said, “No one died from me being on the field.”

She also shot back at the gender designation for bathrooms and said to the crowd, “How do you police the bathroom at home? It sounds like it’s a really tense environment,” adding that if the ERA is passed, “I’m not going to go on some wild abortion spending weekend.”

Tuesday’s testimony comes after actress Alyssa Milano came to Woodbridge this summer to urge Virginians to ratify the ERA.

Not a county issue

Principi spoke at the end of the citizen comment time. He reassured the room that nothing in the amendment was about abortion.

His fellow Supervisors Jeanine Lawson, of the Brentsville District, and Marty Nohe, of Coles, both said they didn’t know much about the amendment and weren’t sure that they could support it.

Nohe said he felt like he needed to go to law school to understand it.

Lawson claimed the pro-choice organization NARAL was in attendance at the meeting, and asked if abortion has nothing to do with the amendment, why would the group be there?

Occoquan District Supervisor Ruth Anderson said that at first thought she could support it, but once she began her analysis and research and spent time studying, it became clear that there could be “unintended consequences” and “we’re not getting clear answers.”

“This has some very serious possible unintended consequences,” Anderson said.

Potomac District Supervisor Maureen Caddigan said, “This is something that should be done at the General Assembly,” and she doesn’t know why they are getting drawn into this.

“I’m pro-life, I’ve always been pro-life,” Caddigan said. “This doesn’t work with my values. This may be more political than we realize.”

Caddigan said she feels free to say whatever she wants to voters because she’s not seeking re-election in 2019.

Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland said that endorsing an amendment to the constitution is not something that the Board of County of Supervisors is equipped to do.

Board Chairman At-large Corey Stewart said that there isn’t a legal scholar in the country who understands what the ERA entails.

The substitute motion that won the night

Lawson brought her own resolution to the board as a substitute motion – a seemingly non-controversial version of the ERA that cited legislation already in existence such as the 14th amendment and came to the conclusion “that the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors reaffirms that all persons residing in Prince William County are afforded equal protection under the law and that no county legislation will be passed that infringes or denies one’s Constitutional rights.”

Hesitant to accept the substitute, Principi asked if the substitute resolution had gone through staff and county attorney review. When that was confirmed, Principi said he didn’t want to vote on it because people haven’t seen it and he wants to see the “fine print.”

Those who testified against the ERA Tuesday night had voiced concern over the fine print of the ERA.

Well past midnight, Lawson’s amended resolution passed with Nohe and Principi abstaining.

At 12:23 am, the meeting adjourned.