RADAR Alert: Success in the House!

After months of hard work, our VAWA campaign has registered a major success. On Wednesday the House Judiciary Committee did its mark-up of the Violence Against Women Act and added this language to make the House bill male-inclusive.

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After months of hard work, our VAWA campaign has registered a major success. On Wednesday the House Judiciary Committee did its mark-up of the Violence Against Women Act and added this language to make the House bill male-inclusive:

SEC. 402. DEFINITIONS AND REQUIREMENTS FOR PROGRAMS RELATING TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN. Part T of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended by inserting before section 2001 (42 U.S.C. 3796gg) the following new sections:

‘SEC. 2000A. CLARIFICATION THAT PROGRAMS RELATING TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ARE GENDER-NEUTRAL. “In this part, and in any other Act of Congress, unless the context unequivocally requires otherwise, a provision authorizing or requiring the Department of Justice to make grants, or to carry out other activities, for assistance to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, sexual assault, or trafficking in persons, shall be construed to cover grants that provide assistance to female victims, male victims, or both.”’

You can see it for yourself by going to http://thomas.loc.gov/ and entering HR 3402 (which is the new number for the House bill).

There is one slight problem with the wording: “unless the context unequivocally requires otherwise.” That means someone who wants to defy Congressional intent might come up with some ridiculous argument why male victims cannot be helped. But we'll deal with that problem later.

To every person who has written a letter, sent a fax or e-mail, or made a phone call for RADAR's Shock and Awe campaign, we say, “Thank you!”

But this is just the beginning. The Senate version of the bill still ignores male victims, so now we need to take advantage of the moment.

This week, we are asking you to e-mail the following persons:

1. Your two Senators [go to http://www.senate.gov/ to get their e-mail addresses]
2. Senator Arlen Specter [http://specter.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInfo.Home]
3. Senator Patrick Leahy [http://leahy.senate.gov/contact.html]

Put this in the Subject line: "Make VAWA (S. 1197) Male-Inclusive"

And then send them a message like this:

RE: S. 1197, Violence Against Women Act

Dear Senator _____________:

The House of Representatives has just changed the wording of the Violence Against Women Act to make it male inclusive (see H.R. 3402). It is only fair that VAWA help the 835,000 men who are victims of domestic violence each year.

I am asking you to make sure that the following language is added to S. 1197:

‘CLARIFICATION THAT PROGRAMS RELATING TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ARE GENDER-NEUTRAL. “In this part, and in any other Act of Congress, a provision authorizing or requiring the Department of Justice to make grants, or to carry out other activities, for assistance to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, sexual assault, or trafficking in persons, shall be construed to cover grants that provide assistance to female victims, male victims, or both.”’

Thank you for making VAWA a law that helps all victims of domestic violence.

Sincerely,

{name}

{address}

{phone}

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

Date of RADAR Release: July 27, 2005

To track the current status of VAWA, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/ and enter the bill number: Senate bill S. 1197; House of Representatives bill H.R. 3402.

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/. Your e-mail address will be kept confidential, and will not be shared with any outside organization. It's fast, easy, and keeps you in the loop.

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.

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http://news.mensactivism.org/articles/05/07/28/1437219.shtml