Calls Needed: ALL Women and ALL Victims of Violence Must Be Protected

Today I received the following via email from Signon.org and MoveOn.org Civic Action:

Hello Everyone,

Last Thursday, a group of women and men and I delivered a copy of our petition to re-authorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to Speaker John Boehner’s office in Troy, OH. Although we did not speak directly to Mr. Boehner, we were very clear that we wanted the expanded version of VAWA, authored by the Senate, to go to the House floor for a vote.

Unfortunately, this did not happen. Instead, GOP House members authored their own version, which excludes protections for LGBT victims, encumbers protections for immigrant victims, and waters down protections for Native American victims. In Troy, we emphasized that VAWA is not a political issue, it is a human issue—it is the right of all victims of violent crimes to be protected, regardless of age, race, sexual orientation, or nationality. This blatant discrimination appears to have become the status quo of certain GOP Congress members—this is unacceptable and must be stopped.

The House will be voting on this bill TOMORROW, Thursday, February 28, and according to Politico, the Republican version of the bill is losing steam and the GOP has already announced that they may allow a vote on the Senate version of the bill if their version doesn’t get enough votes.  Now it is more important than ever that we tell our Representatives to protect all women and support the bi-partisan, Senate version of the bill.

Can you call your Representative right now?

Call 202-224-3121.

Here is a sample script, “”Hi [Representative], I am calling to ask you to pass the Senate’s expanded Violence Against Women Act. All women — including those who identify as LGBT and Native American — deserve protection.”

In 2003, the CDC published that yearly, approximately 1.3 million women and 835,000 men are physically abused by an intimate partner.  According to the Violence Against Women Online Resources, immigrant women often remain in violent relationships because their abusers threaten to report their undocumented status to Homeland Security, which would result in deportation. Furthermore, LGBT victimization is underreported due to fear of homophobic officers or fear of being outed to family, friends, or co-workers—LGBT intimate partner abuse is not covered under any hate crimes legislation.

Worst yet, the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women published that 34% of American Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped in their lifetimes and 39% will be subjected to domestic violence in their lifetimes.  Sadly, on some reservations, Native women are murdered at more than ten times the national average. And, contrary to myth, the Tribal Law and Order Act and the Indian Civil Rights Act are not sufficient to solve the epidemic of violence against Native women.

In fact, current law does not address the jurisdictional gap in Indian Country that leaves these women without justice. In these cases, tribal law enforcement have no authority to intervene because the abuser or perpetrator is non-Indian and the State has no authority to intervene because the victim is an Indian; and the Federal government, with its exclusive jurisdiction, will not intervene on what they consider to be a misdemeanor crime.

Can you watch this 30 second video about VAWA and then call your Representative right now?

Watch now http://front.moveon.org/you-will-be-asked-to-do-something-after-you-watch-this-30-second-video/

Then call 202-224-3121.

We are asking Congress to hear our voices and protect all women against violence.  At this point, our petition is over 219,000 signatures strong and 2014 will be an election year for many of the members of this Congress. The next time we speak, let it be with our vote—it is time to elect a Congress that is truly for ALL the people.

Sheila

I just want to know how these fools living in glass houses think this is ok? Just trifling and vile! I wish these idiots could live like a victim for just one day and see how it is to be abused and treated like dirt! Actually, I think dirt is treated better than victims of domestic violence. NO ONE deserves to be beaten or tortured psychologically! NO ONE! Enough is enough! The cycle of violence continues because these misogynistic jerks want to discriminate against folks!  I guess they learned nothing from the Burning Bed movie!

 

Related articles

• What’s Wrong with the Violence Against Women Act? (nation.time.com)
• What’s Wrong with the Violence Against Women Act? (nation.time.com)
• House GOP Strips LGBT, Native American Provisions In VAWA (addictinginfo.org)
• You: As House GOP leaves women unprotected from violence, citizens fight back (allvoices.com)
• House GOP to introduce Violence Against Women Act that only protects straight, non-Indian women (dailykos.com)
• http://karensunhumbleopinion.com/2013/02/12/we-wish-this-was-a-joke-right-wing-politicians-in-the-house-blocked-the-reauthorization-of-violence-against-women-act-vawa/