Utah and the Equal Rights Amendment

Utah was on track to ratify the amendment, but the day before the legislature voted in 1975, the LDS Church released an editorial in Utah’s Deseret News, proclaiming their opposition to the amendment. The ERA was almost instantly doomed to fail in Utah because of this simple statement. [1] The LDS Church tends to avoid political affairs, but in the case of the ERA, the Church claimed the amendment was a, “moral issue,” and thus their intervention was approved and necessary. Groups such as “Mormons for ERA” formed to voice their opinions and stance on the Equal Rights Amendment. Feminist movements sprung up across the state as women demanded equality in education, employment, and the home. Ultimately, the Equal Rights Amendment did not receive the necessary support from the thirty-eight states needed for ratification, and some argue that its failure to pass was significantly due to the intervention of the LDS Church.

What is the ERA?

Effects of the ERA

Who Supported the ERA in Utah?

Governor’s Committee on the Status of Women, Catholic Women’s League, College of Eastern Utah, Delta Kappa Gamma, Democratic Women’s Clubs, Dixie College (Association of Women Teachers, Republican Club, Young Democratic Club), League of Women Voters of Utah, Mormons for ERA, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Salt Lake Council of Jewish Women, University of Utah (Associated Women Students, Women’s Resource Center), Utah State Nurses Association, Utah State University (American Association of University Professors, Committee on Status of Women, Faculty Association), Women in Social Work, and Y.M.C.A. [6]

Who Opposed the ERA in Utah?

The primary organization in opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment in Utah was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the March 1980 Church magazine, titled the Ensign, the LDS Church leadership explained their position on the ERA and their reasoning for not supporting the amendment. They stated that political issues should remain in politics and the Church only becomes involved if a moral issue is at hand. Since the ERA involved consequences for women and the family, the LDS Church questioned the morality of the amendment.[7]

In October 1976, the LDS Church released a statement regarding the ERA. They stated, “In Utah, where our Church is headquartered, women received the right to vote in 1870, fifty years before the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution granted the right nationally. There have been injustices to women before the law and in society generally. These we deplore. There are additional rights to which women are entitled. However, we firmly believe that the Equal Rights Amendment is not the answer.” The statement continues by listing the reasons for non- support of the amendment. They explain that they believe God gave women feminine instincts and the ERA could restrain and restrict women more than help them. The LDS Church clarified that they support equality for men and women, but with distinct biological, physical, and emotional differences, and thus, they argued the Equal Rights Amendment should not be passed.[8]