Hey, at least we tried.
The Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org) was the first to sound the alarm about Part B of Proposition 1 in NY State, the misleadingly-named Equal Rights Amendment. Under the guise of protecting abortion in NY State — which was not threatened — the Democrat legislature added not only a wide swath of new protected categories such as ‘gender expression’ giving rise to concerns about parents’ rights and girls sports (Part A), but also a completely new Part B that embedded core concepts of reverse-discrimination and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into the constitution.
EPP announced its opposition in mid-April 2024, Equal Protection Project Opposes Proposed DEI Amendment to the NY State Constitution:
Under Paragraph B, discrimination becomes a NY State constitutional right provided the discrimination is “designed to prevent or dismantle discrimination.” This embeds what is commonly referred to as “reverse discrimination” into the NY State Constitution. Discrimination against certain groups in order to protect other groups would be exempt from the sweeping protections of the current constitution and Paragraph A of the Amendment. Arguably, this would mean that the NY and NYC Human Rights Laws would be preempted merely by claiming the motivation was to “dismantle discrimination.”
The exemption under Paragraph B would severely damage efforts at fighting discrimination. It would create a loophole allowing persons engaging in objectively discriminatory programs and practices to claim that the motivation was to “dismantle discrimination.” This is the language of Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and would create a DEI exception to the anti-discrimination laws in NY State. Such ideologies have no place in the NY Constitution, and are contrary to our tradition of protecting individuals from invidious discrimination based on immutable characteristics….
Accordingly, the Equal Protection Project opposes this ballot initiative.
Our voice was recognized by The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, which joined the issue:
One other Prop. 1 alarm: It provides that “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.” The Legislature said this line “protects the validity of efforts to prevent or dismantle structural forms of inequality.” This sounds like a cover for programs like the slavery reparations commission the state launched this year, or other racial preferences. Cornell law professor William Jacobson warned in April that this language could “create a DEI exception to the anti-discrimination laws.”
Kemberlee and I wrote an Op-Ed for the NY Post:
New York state’s Proposition One, the so-called “Equal Rights Amendment” on the ballot this Election Day, is a wolf in sheep’s clothing — one that will destroy fundamental civil rights under the guise of protecting them.The ERA is being promoted as a way to protect abortion rights that aren’t under any threat in the Empire State, but it’s actually a veritable grab bag of leftist ideology.If adopted, Prop One would embed racial retribution in the form of reverse racism, critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion principles into the state Constitution, without most voters realizing its far-reaching effects….The referendum’s Part B would be even more catastrophic — but because of the legalese of its text, its negative impact is not obvious to the average voter.Worse yet, the ballot language voters will see in their polling places does not even mention Part B.We filed a comment objecting to this ballot deception with the state Board of Elections, but were ignored.Can you spot the three-card-monte sleight-of-hand being played in Part B?Here’s the language: “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.”In other words, as long as the goal is to “prevent or dismantle discrimination,” all of the status protections in Part A and elsewhere in state law — the familiar protections based on race and religion, and the new ones, too — get thrown out the window.This embeds injustice into the state Constitution, giving carte blanche for the government to discriminate against one group under the guise of “dismantling discrimination” against another.
EPP also co-organized a press event on the steps of NY City Hall to get media attention to the issue:
We received a lot of media coverage.
But we always knew it was an uphill battle.
Misleading marketing of the amendment by the Democrat and leftist-NGO machinery in a deep blue state using the Trojan Horse of protecting abortion and misleading ballot language made passage all but certain.
Proposition 1 passed with 56.61% in favor, according to the NY State Board of Elections website.
So reverse-discrimination and DEI are now embedded in the NY State Constitution, just another blow to the rule of law in blue America.
Reminder: We are a small organization going up against powerful and wealthy government and private institutions devoted to DEI discrimination. Donations are greatly needed and appreciated.
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