Submitted Photo Denise Dykeman of Minot and Kati Hornung, a Fargo native now living in Virginia, stand outside The National Archives Building Tuesday following the Equal Rights Amendment March in Washington. D.C.

On the 101st anniversary of the Equal Rights Amendment Tuesday, Denise Dykeman of Minot and other activists marched from the White House to the National Archives to demand the Archivist publish the ERA as the 28th amendment.

Helping organize the march was Vote Equality Executive Director Kati (Gunkelman) Hornung, a Fargo native and fourth generation Republican living in Richmond, Virginia.

“Being part of the march is important to me because the reality is that in the United States, women and girls are not yet legally guaranteed equal rights. We are behind,” Dykeman said. “The constitutions of 168 other countries include gender equality and ours should too.”

Organizers estimated more than 200 activists from across the country attended the march, passing copies of the Constitution from person to person along the path, said Dykesman, the only participant from North Dakota.

Suffragette Alice Paul and attorney Crystal Eastman drafted the ERA, which was intended to prohibit sex discrimination in all forms, according to a news release.

On Dec. 10, 1923, the ERA was introduced to the United States Congress. Sen. Charles Curtis and Rep. Daniel Anthony (Susan B. Anthony’s nephew), both R-Kan., (R-KS), introduced the ERA in their respective legislative chambers.

The ERA, with new language written by Paul, was approved by the Senate in 1972 but wasn’t ratified by the required 38 states until 2020. Nevada became the first state to pass the ERA in 45 years in 2017, followed by Illinois in 2018 and Virginia in 2020.

The 2020 Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel released a memo weeks before Virginia ratified the amendment, stating the ERA resolution expired after a congressional 1982 deadline and that any state ratification that happened after 1982 was null.

However, in August of 2024, the American Bar Association approved a resolution that supports two legal principles: a deadline for ratification of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is not consistent with Article V of the Constitution, and under Article V, states are not permitted to rescind prior ratifications. The resolution urges support of ERA implementation by the legal community and all federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments.

“This is a ratified amendment, and the American Bar Association has a resolution to that effect. We’re working behind the scenes to see if we can get the White House to publish this before Biden leaves office,” said Hornung, who has been working on the ERA for several years, leading the Virginia campaign for ratification.

“We need to hit the reset button on gender equality in this country,” she said. She listed inequity in the criminal justice system with untested rape kits and abused women who fight back ending up in jail. There’s inequity in many areas, including medical testing, vehicle safety testing and employee pay, she said.

The amendment won’t create equity in every situation, but it will address government actions, Hornung said.

“This is about equality rights under the law, from our government to our citizens,” she said.

“Women and men, Republicans and Democrats, have been fighting side by side for the ERA for over 100 years. It’s well past time to get it done,” Dykeman said. “I marched in D.C. last year too and, hopefully, I won’t need to come back next year. The ERA has been ratified since 2020. President Biden needs to instruct the U.S. Archivist to publish it already.”