Yours truly published a post on this glaring topic back on April 28 asking what year is this forty-five years after the Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress in 1972.
WELCOME TO THE TWILIGHT ZONE
Link : MesaZona
When in doubt - or just can't do it - AZ House takes a recess!
Quotes included from East Valley Repubs Townsend and Farnsworth. Believe It or Not!
Kelly Townsend is a member of the Arizona House of Representatives representing District 16 since January 14, 2013.
Yesterday reporter Antonia Noori Farzan in Phoenix New Times published this and included the featured image above
Arizona Still Hasn't Ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, Because Republicans Took a Lunch Break Instead
[Speaker of the House J.D. Mesnard and House Whip Kelly Townsend argue against equal rights for women]
In the year 2017, you would think that saying that women should have equal rights would be a fairly nonpartisan, uncontroversial statement.
Not in the Arizona legislature, apparently. For more than 50 years now, Arizona has failed to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, stating that all citizens have equal rights regardless of their gender. And on Thursday, House Republicans chose to take a lunch break rather than debate the Democrat-backed bill, which means that it's effectively dead. . . Powers Hannley requested a vote on the bill, which she described as "a simple, one-statement sentence."
(Here's that sentence, by the way: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.")
A bunch of white dudes in suits — who knows which ones, they all look the same — huddled together nervously for a few minutes and tried to figure out what to do. After a few minutes of consultation, Mesnard motioned for the House to recess, which is legislative speak for "Let's talk about this later, and by later, I mean never."
His fellow Republicans followed his lead and voted to recess. Then Representative Bob Thorpe, a Tea Partier from Flagstaff best known for hanging out with Cliven Bundy and making questionable comments about black people, got up to talk about why the legislature shouldn't discuss the Equal Rights Amendment.
"Let me explain the constitutional issues," he began. We can only assume that, at this point, every single female legislator in the room died inside a little bit. . .
At the very end, though, Mesa Rep. Kelly Townsend got up and ... sort of explained why she was voting to recess? Basically, she thinks that telling businesses what to do is bad, but also thinks that discrimination is bad. She mostly sounded confused, and hungry.
"I don’t know that this is necessarily a party issue on its surface, but I do need to learn more about what is in this Equal Rights Amendment before I decide to support it or not support it," she said. (Again, it is literally one sentence.)
"And lastly, I’d like to say to the other members … I don’t appreciate this being sprung on us at lunchtime. I would have loved to have had time to discuss this with you guys, and for you to have the opportunity to educate me on this, but I think this is not the right time."
With that, House Speaker Mesnard wrapped things up, insisting that the Republican majority's decision to take a recess wasn't a necessarily a vote against equal rights.
Read more >> Phoenix New Times
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