Vote Yes On Prop 1

Dear Editor,

On Oct. 8, I attended a candidate forum sponsored by the North Salem Senior Club.

State Sen. Pete Harkham, Gina Arena, former Congressman Mondaire Jones and Congressman Mike Lawler all came, as did a representative from the League of Women Voters, who explained the New York Equal Rights Amendment -- Proposition 1 on the November 2024 ballot.

Listening to the discussion about the New York Equal Rights Amendment got me thinking about Title IX of the federal civil rights law. Arena and Lawler, who both oppose the New York Equal Rights Amendment, are too young to remember life before Title IX. I am not.

Briefly, Title IX was signed into law by President Richard Nixon (a Republican) on June 23, 1972. It prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation and pregnancy. It also prohibits sexual harassment, sexual violence, stalking and retaliation. Title IX is enforced by the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education. It applies to any school or other academic, extracurricular (including sports), research and occupational training programs that receive funding from the federal government. New York has similar statutory protections that prohibit discrimination based on gender and gender identity.

Before Title IX, opportunities for women and girls in sports and academics, especially STEM, were scarce. It took lawsuits and many decades to enforce the law, but over time Title IX has made a big difference in the lives of women and girls.

I learned from reading Project 2025 (the Heritage Foundation’s “Presidential Transition Project”), that the authors of the document are pushing conservatives to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and roll back or eliminate all or large portions of Title IX. This is precisely why we need to enshrine these protections in the New York State Constitution and in state constitutions across the nation. We need to make it harder for conservative majorities to take these rights away from women and girls.

It breaks my heart to see conservative politicians posting signs and making false statements that “schools” have “taken away parental rights” or that electing conservatives like Arena will “save girls sports” – presumably from the very small minority of already vulnerable individuals who do not conform to her idea of what constitutes a male or female.

Personally, I find it shameful that any politician is willing to villainize transgender individuals -- not to save girls sports -- but rather for the purpose of rolling back the progress that has been made in protecting all people, including women and girls, against discrimination.

Contrary to conservative rhetoric, the New York Equal Rights Amendment will not “open the floodgates to litigation.” Thankfully, we are largely past that point. The New York Equal Rights Amendment simply codifies in the New York State Constitution the protections that have already existed in federal and state statutes for years.

Sadly, it sometimes takes litigation to enforce laws against discrimination, but the evidence is clear that Title IX and other civil rights laws have been transformative for women, girls and other disadvantaged groups. We must not allow our civil rights to be “rolled back” or eliminated for the sake of some imagined past that was only “great” for some men and boys. Instead, let’s look forward to a future free of discrimination.

So, remember to flip your ballot over and vote “YES” for Prop. 1.

-Councilwoman Katherine Daniels

North Salem Town Board