It’s fascinating the way things work out sometimes. Case in point: two very different counties, two resolutions supporting the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), two wildly different outcomes! County #1 was increasingly deep-blue Prince William County, which went overwhelmingly for Tim Kaine on November 6, yet whose Board of Supervisors last Tuesday rejected a resolution in support of the ERA, not even able to come up with a “second” for the resolution. Yeah, I know…WTF??? County #2 was deep-red Powhatan, which went 69% for Corey Stewart on November 6, yet whose Board of Supervisors last night APPROVED a pro-ERA resolution by a vote of 3-2. See below for video of the debate, including an unhinged anti-ERA tirade by Powhatan Board of Supervisors member Larry Nordvig (to which fellow Board member Angela Cabella said, “I found your entire diatribe to be wholly offensive”).
Also, see below the video for Nordvig’s comments following the vote on his Facebook page. According to Nordvig, the “‘so-called’ Equal Rights Amendment” (note: no idea why he put air quotes around “so called”) would bring untold horrors upon women…yeah, don’t ask, but see below if you really want to know what Nordvig believes these horrors might be. Also, see below Nordvig’s tirade for comments by Kathryn Waycaster, who attended the meeting last night in support of the ERA. According to Waycaster, “I applaud the courage and leadership of Chair Carson Tucker, Angie Cabell and Billy Melton for voting their conscience. Some citizens of Powhatan were in strong opposition and view the ERA as unnecessary, polarizing legislation. Last night, three of our Board members took the courageous stand and voted “YES” because it was ‘the right thing to do’.” Great stuff! Now…can we have a “do over” in Prince William County? 🙂
The BOS voted 3-2 to approve a resolution promoting the “so-called” Equal Rights Amendment for women. I did not support the ERA for many reasons…
1. Voting on amending the US Constitution is not the job of local government. Only the feds & state pass amendments
2. The bill we were asked to support is still in draft form, so we really didn’t know what we were voting on
3. I do not want to harm women. Read on-
I’ll quickly go down a list of why I don’t want to harm women, which would result from the ERA amendment.
I will not harm women by…
Removing protective pregnancy workplace rules for women
Destroying heavy manual labor state laws protecting women
Denying certain social security benefits reserved for women
Denying judges preference for mothers in parental custody rulings
Endangering alimony
Endangering child support
Removing protections from women absolved from a husband’s debts in the case of desertion
Gutting numerous Government-sponsored programs such as Women, Infants, and Children nutritional program
Removing Stay-at-home Mom social security & divorce protections
Losing locker room privacy, resulting spikes in voyeurism and assault
Exposing women to assault from men inside sex-integrated prisons
Creating integrated sports teams and the destruction of women’s sports
The elimination of women’s colleges
The elimination of the Girls Scouts, women’s clubs, and ANY women organization
The impropriety of local government voting on an issue defined by Article V
Ignoring already-existing 5th amendment protections for all
Ignoring already-exiting 14th Amendment protections for all
Riding roughshod over a Supreme Court decision that ruled this is a moot issue
Riding roughshod over Congress, who set the rules for this Amendment
Riding roughshod over 5 states that rescinded their ratifications of this amendment
Demanding equal pay regardless of hours worked or lifestyle choices, resulting in their unemployment
Vastly increasing access to abortions, funded by YOU, the taxpayer
Forcing women into the draft in equal numbers of men
Forcing women into all front-line combat roles in equal numbers as men, thereby hurting them physically, and hurting national security against ruthless enemies in time of war
Wasting this Board’s time on an issue that is NOT ANY of our business, should not be on this agenda, and keeps us from handling county business.
My wife & daughter were there. They agree!
Last night the unimaginable happened! In a 3-2 vote, the Powhatan Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in support of the ERA that basically let’s our state delegation know that the citizens of Powhatan County support their efforts to ratify the ERA in 2019.
How did we get here??!? Through the visionary, savvy, bold “YES WE CAN!” leadership of Andrea Weber. Andrea dared to push the boundaries of possibility, then set about implementing the process to bring her dream to fruition by going to BOS Chair, Carson Tucker and requesting the proclamation. THANK YOU, Andrea!! You lead the charge and accomplished the unthinkable! ?.
I applaud the courage and leadership of Chair, Carson Tucker, Angie Cabell and Billy Melton for voting their conscience. Some citizens of Powhatan were in strong opposition and view the ERA as unnecessary, polarizing legislation. Last night, three of our Board members took the courageous stand and voted “YES” because it was “the right thing to do”. Our energized, articulate pro-ERA Powhatan citizens showed up in numbers and gave intelligent, passionate explanations as to why Virginia must become the 38th state to ratify the ERA. We shall see what January brings, but last night, Powhatan was on the right side of history for a change… and it feels GOOD!
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