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PBS Equal Rights Amendment Doc Paints Conservatives As Sexist
PBS debuted a new Independent Lens documentary entitled Ratified on Tuesday that was ostensibly about the fight to get the Equal Rights Amendment ratified in Virginia. In reality, it was just an opportunity for a number of activists and Democratic politicians to trash everyone from the Founding Fathers to conservatives and pro-lifers.
One early clip showed Dr. Kelly Burton trying to diminish the Constitution, “When it comes to the relationship that women have with our Constitution, it's interesting because the Constitution was really only created to reflect the priorities of about 5 percent to 7 percent of the American population: men of European descent who owned property. They were the only people who the Constitution is even in any way mindful of.”
Most people understand that “men” can also be used as a way of saying “human,” but Rep. Jennifer McClellan is not most people. She turned to the Declaration of Independence, “And then, we had a revolution, and Thomas Jefferson wrote, ‘All men are created equal and endowed by their creator with unalienable rights.’ It didn't include women. It didn't include black people. Definitely didn't include me.”
Ratified was a 90-minute production, and those themes would be repeated throughout, but later the documentary crew sought to ask why the ERA failed. For an answer they turned to an old clip of MSNBC’s Ali Velshi suggesting sexism replaced racism as Evangelicals’ main political motivation, “The anger of Evangelicals was activated by segregation, but segregation would prove to be a less-than-palatable way to motivate Evangelical voters on a broad scale, not enough to win elections with. That's where the issue of abortion came in. Senate races in Minnesota and Iowa in 1978 showed that an anti-abortion, pro-life movement could unite the religious right and give them real political power. Republican politicians campaigned accordingly.”
Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal then lamented, “In 1980, the right-wing of the Republican Party took over, and they took the ERA out of the platform.”
After a 1980 Ronald Reagan campaign ad, Smeal further mourned, “This is not little game that we're playing. Our opposition is quite powerful. And they don't always play fair.”
Ratified’s cast and crew had a funny definition of not playing fair. A June 1982 clip of ABC’s World News Tonight anchor Frank Reynolds explained, “It is June 30th, and at midnight tonight, the Equal Rights Amendment becomes a lost cause.”
Some more soundbites later, McClellan decried that, “When the ERA was passed, Congress put a deadline in it. There's nothing in the Constitution that says Congress has that authority, but they did it.”
That would be the ERA supporters’ fault, not “our opposition.” Nevertheless, Director of the Equal Rights Amendment Project Ting Ting Cheng argued, “The most recent addition to the Constitution, the 27th Amendment, was proposed by the first Congress, so it took over 200 years to be added to the Constitution between when Congress first passed it and when the states finally ratified it.”
Smeal echoed the point by declaring, “What it showed is there’s no time limit.”
Unlike the ERA, the 27th Amendment never had a deadline, but matters of Constitutional bookkeeping aside, Ratified’s cast has two major problems: there are many people in this country who look at the trans movement and worry that an amendment like the ERA would bring about the death of women-only spaces. There are also many people who just do not believe the dystopian narrative that says that disbelieving in abortion or the gender pay gap myth renders America a sexist place. As for PBS, Ratified did help prove that there is little, if any, difference between it and MSNBC.
Here is a transcript for the October 21 show:
PBS Independent Lens: Ratified
10/22/2025
12:03 AM ET
KELLY BURTON: When it comes to the relationship that women have with our Constitution, it's interesting because the Constitution was really only created to reflect the priorities of about 5 percent to 7 percent of the American population: men of European descent who owned property. They were the only people who the Constitution is even in any way mindful of.
JENNIFER MCCLELLAN: And then, we had a revolution, [B-Roll footage of American Revolution re-enactment] and Thomas Jefferson wrote, "All men are created equal and endowed by their creator with unalienable rights."
It didn't include women. It didn't include black people. Definitely didn't include me.
…
ALI VELSHI: The anger of Evangelicals was activated by segregation, but segregation would prove to be a less-than-palatable way to motivate Evangelical voters on a broad scale, not enough to win elections with. That's where the issue of abortion came in. Senate races in Minnesota and Iowa in 1978 showed that an anti-abortion, pro-life movement could unite the religious right and give them real political power. Republican politicians campaigned accordingly.
ELEANOR SMEAL: In 1980, the right-wing of the Republican Party took over, and they took the ERA out of the platform.
1980 REAGAN CAMPAIGN AD NARRATOR: Only one man has the proven experience we need. Ronald Reagan for President. Let's make America great again.
RONALD REAGAN: Good evening. I'm here tonight to announce my intention to seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
SMEAL: This is not little game that we're playing. Our opposition is quite powerful. And they don't always play fair.
REAGAN: Well, I believe in equal rights for everyone. I don't believe in discrimination of any kind, certainly not against women, but I don't believe in the amendment.
GLORIA STEINEM [MARCH 1982]: There are three more states. We have 35, so it is very agonizing because the vast majority of Americans support it, way over 60 percent. The states in which most Americans live have ratified it, but none of us will have it unless we get those three more states and given the schedule of legislatures in their meetings, it seems unlikely.
DAVID LETTERMAN: Now, is—
STEINEM: Possible, possible.
FRANK REYNOLDS: It is June 30th, and at midnight tonight, the Equal Rights Amendment becomes a lost cause.
TING TING CHENG: When the ERA time limit expired, people gave up and they said, “We tried and we failed.”
SMEAL: All these women who went door to door who went and talked to their legislators, who begged them to vote for equal rights for women learned one major thing: They're just as smart, they're just as good. It made them interested in politics.
RUTH BADER GINSBERG [JULY 1993] I remain an advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment, I will tell you, for this reason. Because I have a daughter and a granddaughter, and I know what the history was, and I would like the legislature of this country and of all the states to stand up and say, "We want to make a clarion call that women and men are equal before the law, just as every modern human rights document in the world does."
CAROLYN MALONEY: I have introduced it every single year that I've been in Congress, and I have not been able to pass it, nor have I been able to even secure a hearing on it.
MCCLELLAN: When the ERA was passed, Congress put a deadline in it. There's nothing in the Constitution that says Congress has that authority, but they did it.
CHENG: The most recent addition to the Constitution, the 27th Amendment, was proposed by the first Congress, so it took over 200 years to be added to the Constitution between when Congress first passed it and when the states finally ratified it.
SMEAL: What it showed is there’s no time limit.