WI Rep. Gwenn Moore-a Child Sexual Abuse, Rape, and Domestic Violence survivor- took to the floor yesterday and told the GOP where they can shove their War on Women:
Transcript follows:
Well thank you Representative Slaughter and thank you Mr. Speaker.
I urge my colleagues to vote “NO” on the previous question to allow us to consider the violence against Women Act.
You know, it is pathetic and it is disappointing that it’s come to this, that we have to use a procedural shenanigans to talk about an initiative that has been a bipartisan initiative since 1994. The violence against women in this country is not levied against democrats but republicans as well. Not blacks or whites or Hispanics but against native people as well. Not just Christians or Muslims but Jews and non-religious people, athiests. Not just rich people or poor people, but middle class people, and NOT just against heterosexual women, but homosexual couples-it knows no gender, it knows no ethnicity, it knows nothing. And I’ll tell you-Violence against women is as American as Apple Pie. And I know, not only as a legislator, but from my own personal experience.
Violence, Domestic Violence has been a thread throughout my personal life. Up to and including being a child repeatedly sexually assaulted, up to and including being an adult who’s been raped. I just don’t have enough time up here to share all of those experiences with you but I can tell you that wehen this bill came out of the senate judiciary committee with all of the republican senators, all of the guys voting no, it really brought up some terrible memories for me of having boys sitting in a locker room and sort of bet that I, the egghead, couldn’t be “had”. And then the appointed boy, when he saw that I wasn’t going to be so willing, completed a date rape and then took my underwear to display it to the rest of the boys.
And this is what American women are facing. And I’m so proud to be an author of this amendment, because it has been in the past a bipartisan bill which this bill will strengthen the core programs, to support law enforcement, to prosecutions and judicial staff training. It will include new initiatives aimed at preventing domestic violence related homicides that occur every single day in this country. It would extend authority to protect native American victims on tribal lands. It would ensure a strong response to insufficient reporting and services to victims of sexual assault. It would increase the number of U-Visas for undocumented women, who because they are living in the shadows are particularly vulnerable to domestic violence. And this bill would expand services for under-served communities. Those that due to their religion or gender or sexual orientation have not been served.
This is not a partisan issue, and it would be very devastating to women of all colors
Sadly, with the help of 6 turncoat democrats, the GOP Cantor/Adams version of the bill
passed yesterday. This version of the legislation strips out provisions designed to protect LGBTQ individuals, Native Americans, minority communities and immigrants. In the case of immigrants, it actually reverses critical protections previously in place:
From the National Organization for Women
The bill imposes cruel new reporting restrictions on immigrant survivors of violence — eliminating confidentiality, putting victims in grave danger and empowering abusers. These provisions would be thrown out if the cases involved legal residents or citizens. Frankly, this second class treatment of women of color smacks of willful ignorance of the problem and hostility toward the victims.
The Violence Against Women Act was first enacted in 1994 and has been re-authorized twice without any fight. It is bipartisan legislation with strong support on both sides of the aisle.
This time around, things were different. Why? Apparently in large part because of this Russian Mail Order Bride company:
Seriously.
Violence Against Women Act Gives "Men's Rights" Its Moment
The Violence Against Women Act actually offers two avenues for victims of abuse to seek immigration relief. Women in the US illegally can currently seek temporary visas if they are victims of domestic violence. These have been a central point of the debate surrounding VAWA reauthorization — a version of the reauthorization bill advanced by House Republicans would impose various restrictions on these visas, while the version of the bill passed by the Senate in April would expand access to them.
Immigrant women who are married to American men can also petition through VAWA to receive green cards if their husbands are abusive.
Ronan says women exploit these laws to stay in the US. “They know our laws before they get here, and then they get free citizenship," he claims, while their American husbands face imprisonment. He says this fraud has a domestic source: "The immigrant women wouldn't know how to do it if they hadn't learned from the American women."
Ronan is part of a group called the National Coalition for Men, which calls itself "the oldest men’s group committed to ending sex discrimination" and which has endorsed the Republican-sponsored House version of VAWA Wednesday. He's also the Minnesota coordinator of the Domestic Violence Legislative Project at Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE). SAVE has been lobbying House Republicans to include "reform to curb VAWA immigration fraud" in VAWA. But the financial interests behind the group have raised eyebrows. Its treasurer also started an international "marriage service" that was successfully sued by a Russian bride who said her American husband beat her. And he's been in contact with the group Voice of American Immigration Fraud Victims, which has been following the VAWA debate in the House closely.
[SNIP]
Immigration advocates, and some immigration lawyers, have watched the men’s claims with horror, and dismiss the possibility of fraud. Immigration attorney and chapter secretary of the American Immigration Lawyers Association Dick Zonnefeld told BuzzFeed it would be extremely difficult for an immigrant woman to fraudulently gain a visa or permanent residency through VAWA. In order to obtain one of the temporary U visas, alleged victims need certification from a law enforcement officer that their claims are valid. Officials, he says, will decline to certify if they sense even "a whiff of fraud," and there's no incentive for them to certify at all. Any woman who got a U visa by fraud, he said, "deserves an Oscar" for her acting. The petition process for married women, he added, had no explicit requirement for law enforcement certification but still placed the burden of proof on the alleged victim, and would also be very difficult to abuse.
Far more common than any fraud by alleged victims, Zonnefeld added, were efforts by abusers to use women's fear of deportation to keep them silent. Some abusers, he said, know that the process of getting a temporary visa is extremely complicated, and "the abuser not only abuses the victim physically and emotionally, but they also use the difficulties inherent in the immigration process as another weapon."
A little more information about SAVE from
Right Wing Watch:
Philip Cook, the director of Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE), on whose site the letter is hosted. SAVE has been lobbying House Republicans, with much success, to roll back protections for immigrant victims of domestic violence under VAWA. As Laura Bassett reported last week at the Huffington Post, SAVE’s treasurer “has a major financial interest in reducing immigrant protections”:
Natasha Spivack, started international "marriage service" Encounters International in 1993 with the aim of arranging marriages between U.S. men and Russian women. "The Woman Of Your Dreams Just May have a Russian Accent," states the company's website.
A federal jury in Baltimore awarded one of the Russian brides matched by Encounters International a settlement of $434,000 after she claimed to have been beaten by her American husband and claimed that the company failed to screen candidates properly. The woman also claimed that Encounters International neglected to tell her about a law allowing immigrants to escape abusive marriages without fear of automatic deportation. […]
Rosie Hidalgo, director of public policy for the anti-domestic violence organization Casa de Esperanza, said she has notified Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee that SAVE Services had strong connections to Encounters International, and pointed out that there have been no studies documenting immigration fraud on the part of U.S. anti-domestic violence programs.
"It's shocking to me that the people who are advocating for these anti-immigrant provisions are the people who have a monetary interest in not holding batterers accountable and not holding marriage broker agencies accountable," she told HuffPost. "These are the ones reaching out to House Republicans, and Republicans are supporting the policies they're pushing."
And then, of course, good old fashioned heterosexism reared it's ugly head. The Cantor/Adams version of the bill strips away language that would help protect LGBTQ individuals:
Human Rights Campaign:
During the process of soliciting information to draft the Senate bill, it became clear that LGBT victims of domestic violence were not receiving the services they needed – even though they experience domestic violence at roughly the same rate as all other victims. LGBT victims faced discrimination based on their sexual orientation and gender identity when they sought refuge from abuse. They were turned away from service providers, laughed at by law enforcement, and struggled to get protective orders from judges. Often they were left without any option but to return to their abuser.
The Senate bill takes into account the lessons learned from VAWA stakeholders. It includes three important provisions that ensure LGBT victims of domestic violence are included in the bill. The bill explicitly includes LGBT victims in two key VAWA grant programs. It also prohibits any program or activity funded by the bill from discriminating against a victim based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The House bill eliminates these provisions, as well as many other critical provisions in the Senate bill.
More reactions:
National Task Force to End Sexual & Domestic Violence Against Women
The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women, a coalition representing thousands of organizations, service providers, researchers, educators, religious leaders, law enforcement, advocacy groups and victims all across the nation, continues to have grave concerns about this legislation that contains punitive provisions that will harm victims and exclude key communities.
National Network to End Domestic Violence
It weakens or deletes entirely some of the vital improvements in the Senate bill, including the strong provisions that are designed to increase the safety of Native women and the needs of the LGBT community. The bill also contains extremely dangerous provisions that would jeopardize the safety and often the lives of immigrant victims seeking to report crimes by eliminating important confidentiality protections, undermining effective anti-fraud protections, and rolling back years of progress to protect the safety of immigrant victims. Finally, it grows excessive and costly bureaucracy that will divert resources which could be used for victim services.
National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project at American University
“This bill is a direct roll back of VAWA laws,” said Rocio Mollina of the National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project at American University. “It fails to protect victims that are vulnerable, that are too traumatized, too scared to report and who face barriers.”
Feminist Majority
Before the Cantor/Adams bill, VAWA Reauthorization legislation, ever since it first passed in 1994, has always expanded coverage and services for the purpose of reducing violence. This is the first time a VAWA bill has been approved that narrows or restricts protections.
I want to take a moment to go back to something that Rep. Moore said in an impassioned press conference after this bill was passed:
As a woman of color I am particularly agreived that this bill ignores the special circumstances of women who are minorities, women who are in the shadows.
Stop playing games with the lives of women. They don’t want to hear us talking about a war on women, but I mean this is a direct assault on womens lives. Three women a day die because of victimization. And I would implore my colleagues to stop playing games.
Women of color, Native Americans, immigrants, and LGBQT individuals are statistically more likely to become victims, and are less likely to report. A poor response system coupled with institutionalized racism, sexism, heterosexism, and fears of deportation combine to create formidible barriers to disclosing abuse. This bill marginalizes their concerns and needs, and puts their very lives in jeopardy. It is the exact opposite of progress.
This legislation says in no uncertain terms that only certain kinds of women are entitled to protection and safety. As a straight white woman, there is nothing in this bill that will affect me directly. This is by design. The Cantor/Adams version of this bill is a cynical way of dividing women and turning us against each other.
For those women who do not think they have stake in this-because they do not fall into one of the categories of "other" that is hurt by this legislation-remember that your status as a women is indelibly tied to the status of those "others". When our sisters are hurt, we are all hurt. And this is NOT a game.
Action Steps
Call Your Senator and urge them to pass the original version of H.R. 4970
See how your Representative Voted here- Call them and let them know how you feel about their vote.
Sign my petition at Change.org
Contact Representative Gwen Moore and say THANK YOU for standing up for the rights of women!
Washington DC Office
2245 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4572
Fax: (202) 225-8135
District Office
219 N Milwaukee St STE 3A
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Phone: (414) 297-1140
Fax: (414) 297-1086
8:35 AM PT: Rachel Maddow did a great segment on this story last night. Here is the video:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
You can see Gwen Moore's powerful statement at the Press Conference starting at 7:20.