1.     Voting “Yes” on Proposal 4 would enshrine UN-equal rights into the Vermont Constitution.

All laws passed under Proposal 4 would be violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection clause: 

"...No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

States can not grant themselves the ability to create groups of citizens who get different State benefits based on historical ethnicity.  Even if everyone votes "Yes", it would be a violation of the U.S. Constitution.  Vermont can not change the Fourteenth amendment by itself.

Witnesses employed by the State commended the House Judiciary Committee for the third sentence of Article (Prop 4), which provides the legal framework to ensure that the Vermont Supreme Court interprets Prop 4 to uphold Vermont’s existing DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs and provides the legislature with the legal framework to implement more DEI affirmative action programs, all at taxpayer expense.

“The office further appreciates the addition of language intended to guide the Vermont Supreme Court to interpret the Article as follows: ‘Nothing in this Article shall be interpreted or applied to prevent the adoption or implementation of measures intended to provide equality of treatment and opportunity for members of groups that have historically been subject to discrimination.’ We are concerned that without this additional guidance [third sentence of Proposal 4], the Equal Rights Amendment could be misinterpreted to claim that socially dominant groups are harmed by the pursuit of equity, diversity, justice, and inclusion.” 

- Jay Greene, Office of Racial Equity, to House Judiciary Committee, - April 28, 2024Jaye Greene, Vermont Office of Racial Equity, PR4~Jay Greene~ORE Letter in Support~5-1-2024 (1).pdf

“The last [third] sentence in Prop 4 really is important guidance for the Vermont Supreme Court to ensure that this Clause is not misinterpreted and used to strike down DEI [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] initiatives that the state already has in place and that it may implement in the future.”

-   Big Hartman executive director and general counsel, Vermont Human Rights Commission, to House Judiciary Committee on May 1, 2024 You can listen to Big Hartman’s testimony beginning @1:48:20, here.

Cary Brown, Executive Director of the Vermont Commission on Women, who refused to define “woman”, told House Judiciary on April 21, 2026, that the third sentence of Proposal 4 is “really important.” And concluded that, “In order to get people on equal footing (referring to centuries of discrimination against women and other groups), sometimes something along the lines of affirmative action is called for.” 

Brown also told House Judiciary that she liked the idea of financial reparations for women, but that, “I can’t imagine a lot of people would be supportive of that.”  - Goldendomevt.com House Judiciary April 21, 2026, video and transcript.