NYS Equal Rights Amendment Presentation

There will be animportant AAUW Kingston Branch Meeting on 10/ 24 at 4 PM at the Kingston Library to discuss the Equal Rights Amendment, which will be on the ballot in New York State next month. Dare Thompson**, president of the Mid-Hudson League of Women Voters will be joining us to lead a discussion about the NY-ERA. Dare will present an overview of the facts about the NY-ERA, then we’ll have a Q&A, so please come and bring your friends and your questions! The League’s ultimate goal is to get people comfortable with what the NY-ERA is so they will vote for it (Prop. 1***) on Tuesday, November 5 and they will encourage others to turn over the ballot and vote for it too.

** Dare Thompson grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and earned a BA from Swarthmore College and an MAT from Oberlin College. After teaching English and social studies for several years, she spent a quarter century as executive
director of three arts organizations:

• Kirkland Art Center (Clinton, NY), Ohio
• Citizens for the Arts (Columbus), and
• The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center
  (Sleepy Hollow).

Her primary volunteer activity since 1972 has been with the League of Women Voters, including service as the state president in Rhode Island, first VP in Ohio, and NY state president 2015 to 2019. She has lived in Marlboro since 1998 and is currently president of the Mid-Hudson LWV, which serves Ulster, Dutchess, and Orange Counties.
Dare is also an active Quaker and enjoyed learning more about the key role Quakers played in the history of women’s suffrage when she served on the NYS Women’s Suffrage Commission headed by then Lt. Governor Hochul. She is also the treasurer of the Women’s Rights Alliance of NYS.