The City of West Hollywood is co-sponsor of a powerful temporary installation at West Hollywood Library urging awareness about – and publication of – the fully ratified Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

The installation is a project of the EQUAL MEANS EQUAL Final Impact campaign, inspired by French artist JR’s Inside Out Project and installed by Branded Arts. The installation is additionally made possible with support from Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath, Third District, and LA County Library.

A series of black-and-white photographic portraits taken by Sonja Nuttall, Lead Adviser and Board Member of EQUAL MEANS EQUAL, and by Kat Benzova, comprise the installation, which frames the perimeter of West Hollywood Library, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. The installation serves as a larger-than-life statement to draw community attention to the immediate need to publish the fully ratified Equal Rights Amendment to fight back against civil and human rights rollbacks affecting women, girls, and the LGBTQ community.

The efforts of the campaign have attracted support from a range of celebrities and public figures and involve many volunteers to whom organizers are grateful. This installation follows successful recent events and installations in New York City, Colorado Springs, and Traverse City, Michigan, where the organization urged its attendees to rally around the publication of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Completed during the last week of October 2024, the installation will remain on display until December 2024. A photo album of the installation is available on the City’s official Flickr site.

First proposed by The National Woman’s Party (NWP) in 1923 under the leadership of feminist Alice Paul and introduced in Congress that year, and again in every new Congress for more than four decades, it took the leadership of U.S. Representative Bella Abzug of New York and a new feminist movement, including Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, to win the requisite two-thirds vote from the U.S. House of Representatives in October 1971. However, at the time, supporters believed that a deadline outside the text of the actual proposed Amendment was valid and that all 38 states had to ratify the ERA by 1979. The deadline was extended to 1982, but the effort remained short by three states.

More than 20 years later, the baton was picked up by another feminist generation, led in great part by Los Angeles-based director, writer, and actor Kamala Lopez, founder and President of the national nonprofit organization EQUAL MEANS EQUAL, who used her award-winning ERA documentary, Equal Means Equal, to educate women about the ERA and tell them that the ERA could still be ratified and become an Amendment to the Constitution. Legal scholars, including the American Bar Association, have since determined the deadline is not legally valid. Since 2017, three states – Nevada, Illinois and Virginia – have fully ratified the Equal Rights Amendment as of January 27, 2020. Even though it became legally effective in 2022 by its own terms, the ERA has yet to be published in the Constitution.

The mission of the campaign is to draw public and governmental attention to the fact that with one simple phone call to the U.S. Archivist, the President could publish the Equal Rights Amendment, guaranteeing equality of rights for all Americans. The Equal Rights Amendment would restore a woman’s right to control her own body, protect LGBTQ people from discrimination, guarantee the equal protection of our laws in cases of gendered violence and finally provide women with equal pay for equal work or work of equal value.

The American Bar Association and the League of Women Voters recently made public statements and Resolutions affirming that American voters have now completed ratification in the final three states required by Article V of the Constitution, the ERA is presently federal law and only needs to be published in order to be properly enforced. There is no further Congressional action needed and only the President can direct the U.S. Archivist to take this step.

Learn more about the EQUAL MEANS EQUAL and the Final Impact campaign by visiting www.equalmeansequal.org and www.finalimpact.org.

The City of West Hollywood has a long history of being an advocate for women’s rights and equality for all women and has consistently approved Resolutions in support of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The City created its Women’s Advisory Board in 1992 to address matters relating to advocacy on behalf of women’s rights such as economic equality, reproductive rights, violence against women and sexual harassment, and the Board makes recommendations to the City Council relative to the adoption of programs, policies, or ordinances of benefit to the constituency.

For more information, please contact Andi Lovano, City of West Hollywood Community & Legislative Affairs Manager, at (323) 848-6333 or at alovano@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.

For up-to-date information about City of West Hollywood news and events, follow @wehocity on social media, sign-up for news updates at www.weho.org/email, and visit the City’s calendar of meetings and events at www.weho.org/calendar. West Hollywood City Hall is open for walk-in services at public counters or by appointment by visiting www.weho.org/appointments. City Hall services are accessible by phone at (323) 848-6400 and via website at www.weho.org. Receive text updates by texting “WeHo” to (323) 848-5000.

For reporters and members of the media seeking additional information about the City of West Hollywood, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Public Information Officer, Sheri A. Lunn, at (323) 848-6391 or slunn@weho.org.