The New York State League of Women Voters is an active partner in the effort to pass a constitutional amendment adding to existing enumerated protections against discrimination based on race and religion. This amendment would explicitly prohibit discrimination based on a person’s ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex— including their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes, reproductive healthcare and autonomy.

On September 5th, our local LWVMHR representatives listened to a lively meeting of the State League ERA Task Force. A representative of the State League Rural Task Force put forth the following suggestions for consideration:

• Create “snapshots” of a broad range of real people whose lives would be affected by the amendment. These could be used for flyers or social media posts.
• Create animated video “vignettes” featuring situations where the Amendment which could be utilized by a diverse (in every sense) range of New Yorkers. Perhaps groups with local “boots on the ground” could reach out to area colleges where student groups or digital media classes could develop such videos.
• Supply one-pagers providing more detail on the various aspects of the amendment, including the disability piece, the rights of the aging, protections for freedom of religion, for equal treatment of all races, as well as for gender/sex rights.

The protections for those of all ethnicities and countries of origin can be framed for use in rural areas too. For example, we have many migrant farm workers whose advocates could be addressed as part of this messaging, as could supporters of the victims of human trafficking, which is a problem along the northern border.

Encourage Campaign participants to reach out to trusted messengers in the communities they want to reach.

The League is perfectly positioned to both be such a messenger and to do this outreach. So are faith communities and statewide organizations like the NAACP, the Poor People’s Campaign, United Way, and Make the Road NY.