Hi guys! I just checked the petition and I can't believe how much support this has received! There is strength in numbers -- the more people that make their voices heard, the more pressure there is for the people in charge to do the right thing. And if they don't, we make our voices heard so that we get people in charge who represent our values and our priorities.
When then-nominee Kavanaugh was going through his hearing, I was enraged as a victim of sexual assault myself. I believe Blasey Ford -- and my heart broke when I watched her testimony. But I knew almost immediately that when she sat down to deliver her speech, her fate was sealed. Listening to her story -- with all of the holes and gaps that were so eagerly pointed out by conservatives as evidence she was lying -- were actually evidence of the truth to me, as a survivor, because I have the same holes and gaps in my story of abuse. Those holes and gaps are familiar to domestic violence counselors, too, or others in the system. It made my heart break more for her, as she desperately and reluctantly performed her civic duty to a group of people who could not even begin to understand what she had been through -- or for many, cared. Gaps and holes are not evidence of lies, but desperate calls for help for victims. And they are being consistently ignored by government as sexual assault victims continue to be abused and sometimes even die under their watch.
The reason the VAWA is so important to me is because it is concrete legislation that can be pointed to as progressive action, and more importantly, built on to continue making awesome, important progressive change. There is so much progress that still needs to be made -- and holes exist in the legislation that are causing some pretty serious problems. I wrote a blog post about some of that if you're interested -- link is here. The VAWA is an extremely complex piece of legislation that I encourage you all to learn about and read about so that you can not only pressure your leaders to renew it, but fix it -- and improve it.
There are currently two proposals to the committee -- one, by Representative Sheila Jackson, a Democrat, to not only renew the VAWA, but renew it with substantive improvements. Some of these improvements include providing housing assistance to domestic violence victims (one of the main reasons victims stay in horrific situations), an expansion of gun control laws aimed at prohibiting perpetrators from possessing a firearm (though existing legislation exists, there are loopholes that have severely weakened this legislation and made it incredibly easy for dangerous persons to continue obtaining weapons) and finally, expanded protections for Native American women. The proposal has been backed by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The second proposal, put forward by Representative Elise Stefanik, simply states that we should renew the VAWA for a period of six months with existing provisions. This temporary proposal continues to leave the VAWA vulnerable, and addresses none of the loopholes nor does it aim to progress the legislation any further.
There is also the likely scenario in a Republican majority that the VAWA will not be renewed at all, if we do not continue to put pressure on our leaders. Back in 2013, the VAWA expired due to Republicans' refusal to address the needs of the LGBTQ community, Native American women, and immigrants. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has refused to deny asylum to domestic violence victims, and the policies of the Trump Administration in general are extremely harsh towards immigrants, and immigrant women in particular.
I encourage you to take this information, and with it, pressure your leaders to not only renew the act, but move the act FORWARD. If there was one good thing that came out of the Kavanaugh hearings, it was that the bravery that Blasey Ford showed inspired thousands of men and women to share their stories and showed victims that they are not alone. That should spur us into further action, and demand that our leaders fight for us and represent us not at the bare minimum -- but full force in all aspects of our legislation. Let's demand that in the renewal of the VAWA. Thanks for reading!
There is strength in numbers -- the more people that make their voices heard, the more pressure there is for the people in charge to do the right thing.
Share this petition with your Facebook friends:
And please tweet!