RADAR Alert: VAWA Must Not Discriminate Against Male Victims of Domestic Violence!

The Violence Against Women Act was re-introduced in the Senate and House last week. The number of the Senate bill is S. 1197, and the number of the House bill is H.R. 2876.

Since VAWA was first enacted in 1994, its discriminatory effects have kept innumerable victims of domestic violence from receiving help. Their offense – being male.

Click "Read more..." for more.

Unless we take action now, VAWA will continue to discriminate against male victims. Now is the time to tell our representatives in Congress that the gender-discrimination must stop!

This is the first of many RADAR Alerts that will ask you to speak out and express your concerns about VAWA.

This week, we're asking you to telephone the Washington office of your elected officials and deliver this very simple message: "VAWA must not discriminate against male victims of domestic violence."

This is what to do:

1. To find out the names of your two Senators, go to http://www.senate.gov/ and select your state.

To get the name of your Representative, go to http://www.house.gov/ and enter your ZIP code.

2. When you enter this information, you will get the names and telephone numbers of your elected officials. Or you can simply call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and the operator will connect you.

3. Call your two Senators. Call them NOW. When the receptionist answers your call, politely say:


"My name is [your name] and I am a constituent of Senator [xxx]. I am calling about the Violence Against Women Act, Senate bill S. 1197. I would like to request that you convey this message to Senator [xxx]: 'VAWA must not discriminate against male victims of domestic violence.'"

Then thank the receptionist.

4. Now do the same thing for your Representative, using this wording:

"My name is [your name] and I am a constituent of Representative [yyy]. I am calling about the Violence Against Women Act, House bill H.R. 2876. I would like to request that you convey this message to Representative yyy: 'VAWA must not discriminate against male victims of domestic violence.'"

The point of this week's Alert is to generate literally THOUSANDS of phone calls pouring into Congress. In fact, we strongly encourage you to call your elected officials every day this week.

Keep the information for this week's Alert handy for future reference. Because they're going to be hearing a lot from us in the weeks and months ahead.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Date of RADAR Release: June 20, 2005

Join other men's and fathers' rights activists at the Second National Men's Equality Congress, July 15-16 in Washington DC. (See http://www.trueequality.com/index2.php) The first day of the Congress, July 15, will be devoted to lobbying activities on Capitol Hill. RADAR representatives will be there to orient attendees to the current status of VAWA.

To receive RADAR Alerts, press releases, and other special announcements, sign up for the RADAR E-lert. You can sign up for the E-lert on the RADAR home page at http://www.mediaradar.org/

Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting (RADAR) is a coalition of men and women working to assure media balance and accuracy in coverage of the domestic violence issue. More information can be found at http://www.mediaradar.org/

NOTICE: This story was migrated from the old software that used to run Mensactivism.org. Unfortunately, user comments did not get included in the migration. However, you may view a copy of the original story, with comments, at the following link:

http://news.mensactivism.org/articles/05/06/21/178203.shtml