What the Constitution Means to Me

To my theater friends,

Thank you for including What the Constitution Means to Me in your season.  I am honored that you would share this play and my stories with your community.

I write to ask a favor. I have babies with two X chromosomes. I want them to be truly equal in this country when they grow up. I want them to have a future filled with possibility. I want them to have the rights to personhood, autonomy, and self-determination that they and all people in this country deserve. And I deeply hope that we can, as a country, come through this very scary period to something that looks better on the other side.

In particular, I feel that the past few years have shown us how important the Equal Rights Amendment is. To me, it’s a no-brainer. Perhaps because it seems like a very easy thing to say: There should be no discrimination on the basis of sex. That’s it. That is the sum total of the ERA. It’s so uncontroversial that a surprising number of people think we ratified the ERA a long time ago! The Associated Press reports that 72% of Americans incorrectly believe that the Constitution already guarantees women and men equal rights under the law, regardless of sex.

Passed by Congress in 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment has been ratified by 38 states as of Virginia’s ratification in January 2020. All that remains to be won is official acknowledgement that the ERA is fully ratified! To that end, I ask that you include information from my friends at the ERA Coalition and share this good news alongside your production.  

The ERA Coalition has a toolkit that you can use in your program or share in your lobby linked below. Thank you for continuing this conversation as we celebrate our living constitution.

Best,

Heidi Schreck