Maine House passes bill to add equal rights amendment to state constitution

AUGUSTA, Maine (WABI) - The Maine House passed a bill calling for a change to Maine's constitution to outlaw gender discrimination...

In the 1970's Maine voters ratified an amendment to the U-S Constitution making it illegal to discriminate against a person on the basis of gender..

But the measure never garnered the support it needed across the nation, two-thirds of all state, to go into effect.

Representative Lois Reckitt is the bill's sponsor.

The democrat representing South Portland says, "Constitutional amendments take a lot to change. As we can see from the struggle I've had with this so it's not the easiest thing to do. To get a constitutional amendment it's like the bedrock of the issue and it's very difficult to change. So what the hope is we can embed equality for women."

Representative Amy Arata, a Republican representing Gloucester says, "Women are being educated at a higher rate than men. We are doing better in school. We are CEOs, heck we have a governor who is a female. We really don't need this and I would rather that this just go away. You know it's from the 70s it's not necessary."

The bill nows moves on to the Senate.