New York court allows state Equal Rights Amendment to appear on November ballot

A proposed amendment to New York’s Constitution to expand nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ and pregnant people will appear before voters in November, the state’s highest court ruled Thursday. 

The decision from New York’s Court of Appeals affirms a June decision allowing the amendment to be brought to voters for ratification, after an upstate New York judge threw it off the ballot in May. The justices on Thursday dismissed an appeal from Marjorie Byrnes (R), a Republican state Assembly member, “upon the ground that no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.” 

Byrnes did not immediately return a request for comment. In a statement, New York Republican Party Chair Ed Cox said the court was wrong to reject the appeal and called the proposed amendment, which will appear on the November ballot as Proposition 1, “a radical departure from common sense.” 

“I’m confident voters — if they’re told the truth — will resoundingly reject Prop 1,” Cox said. 

Cox in his statement claimed the amendment would grant noncitizens the right to vote in elections and allow minors to access gender-affirming medical care — including surgeries, which are rarely recommended to transgender youth under 18 — without their parent’s consent. New York Republicans have used similar scare tactics to sway voters against the amendment, which Democrats are hoping to use as a way to protect abortion rights in the state. 

While the ballot question would not explicitly protect the right to abortion in New York, where the procedure has been legal since 1970 and is not seen as under threat, it would prevent a person from being discriminated against for having an abortion. In New York, individuals are already protected from employment discrimination based on reproductive health care decisions, including abortion. 

The New York Constitution currently bars discrimination based on race, color, creed and religion. The proposed amendment, known to its supporters as the “Equal Rights 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, pregnancy outcomes, reproductive health care and autonomy.”