Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

“Virginia has the chance to make history this year with those 24 simple words.”

The quotation above comes from an editorial that appeared in this newspaper 11 months ago, as the 2019 Virginia General Assembly was in session.

The Equal Rights Amendment, which would become the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution, was again before our legislature, and again, as in decades past, it was shot down. In the last session, the measure passed the Senate but never got to the House of Delegates’ floor for consideration.

We look toward entirely changed circumstances as the Virginia General Assembly prepares to convene in new session on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020.

For in the coming session, Democrats will be in the majority in both chambers, the result of an upheaval in November’s election that switched control from the Republican majority tha...