Thank Rep. Poe for wanting a gender neutral VAWA

[teriincali]

Call Rep. Poe 202-225-6565 and express your support. Then sign the Partner Violence
Reduction Act petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/hope-for-victims-support-the-partner-violence-re\
duction-act

Rep. Poe Looks to Have VAWA Rewritten as Gender Neutral

Kerry Picket
July 21, 2011

...President of Eagle Forum Phyllis Schlafly wrote a Townhall piece last week
describing the weaknesses of VAWA, and she starts with the name itself:
---

For 30 years, the feminists have been pretending that their goal is to
abolish all sex discrimination, eliminating all gender differences no matter how
reasonable. When it comes to domestic violence, however, feminist dogma preaches
that there is an innate gender difference: Men are naturally batterers, and
women are naturally victims (i.e., gender profiling).

Starting with its title, VAWA is just about as sex discriminatory as
legislation can get. It is written and implemented to oppose the abuse of women
and to punish men.

Ignoring the mountain of evidence that women initiate physical violence
nearly as often as men, VAWA has more than 60 passages in its lengthy text that
exclude men from its benefits. For starters, the law's title should be changed
to Partner Violence Reduction Act, and the words "and men" should be added to
those 60 sections.

---
Congressman Poe, a member of the House Judiciary committee, argues that men can
still apply for the same services women apply for under the current law, but
said: "I certainly agree with equal protection under the law. And maybe a name
change is in order."

He added, "Certainly, I think that's something that we could consider, because
the law applies equally between men and women under the act already even though
the name says only women. So I'm open to changing the name. Domestic Violence
Act. I like that phrase."

Mr. Poe also supports replacing the word "woman" in the legislation to a
non-gender specific term like "person" or "men and women" or "men or women."

"The Constitution uses `person.' They thought of it long before we did, so
person is an appropriate term," he noted....

...Ms. Schlafly also points out in her article that the the term "domestic
violence" could mean any number of circumstances under the law these days:
---

Currently used definitions of domestic violence that are unacceptably
trivial include calling your partner a naughty word, raising your voice, causing
"annoyance" or "emotional distress," or just not doing what your partner wants.
The law's revision should use an accurate definition of domestic violence that
includes violence, such as: "any act or threatened act of violence, including
any forceful detention of an individual, which results or threatens to result in
physical injury."

Women who make domestic violence accusations are not required to produce
evidence and are never prosecuted for perjury if they lie. Accused men are not
accorded fundamental protections of due process, not considered innocent until
proven guilty, and in many cases, are not afforded the right to confront their
accusers.

---
Congressman Poe agrees with Ms. Schlafly, and he wants to see more clarification
in the law as to what exactly domestic violence is defined as.

"We're talking about people getting hurt. We're talking about people having to
flee in the middle of the night for their safety and that this bill is
addressing violence not name calling—not suggestive behavior–But…the word
violence," he said.

"When we get to re-drafting the bill, it must be clear enough that we are
talking about somebody getting hurt. Physical harm and serious bodily injury is
a good definition of domestic violence. But I agree. I think that needs to be
very clearly defined and not some abstract feeling or [someone] getting their
feelings hurt."

Read full article:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/jul/21/picket-vawa-supporte\
r-capitol-hill-looks-have-law-/

Call Rep. Poe 202-225-6565 and express your support. Then sign the Partner Violence
Reduction Act petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/hope-for-victims-support-the-partner-violence-re\
duction-act

[outdoors]

My first response when i seen this was;

"WHAT?"

[nickb275]

Awesome post Teri. Will get all over this even though I am Canadian. We need more of this up north!!

Again, awesome post!!

[chevalier]

This is what should have happened in the first place. But I guess better late than never.

Thanks to all who are working on getting these much needed changes made.

[Zuberi]

Smells too sweet!
I don't trust it.

[outdoors]

comment from another site;

Contacted him when I saw this posted. Pointed out that he made an error in stating that it is gender neutral though the language needs changed to reflect that. It being written in the manner it is has been used for almost two decades to deny men services with the way it only states women in it and the laws on equal treatment are ignored as a result. It is supposed to be gender neutral by our laws on equal treatment and removal of the specific parts that refused services to males but the effective result is not.

[BobV01]

Representative Poe, many Representaives and Senators even those at the State level, NOW is the time to get the word out:

Please copy and paste the following article into emails, posts, re-posts, Tweets, letters and spread the word:
Have we created a Matriarchy that is bankrupting nations, abusing children? - Blogs - antimisandry.com

[rohara]

Smells too sweet!
I don't trust it.

Make no mistake Zuberi, there is a sea change going on on capitol hill. The people at SAVE have been working at this for years now and it is now starting to pay off in ways that I cannot talk about here. But have faith, good things are to come.

By the way, a link was placed on the home page of this site for the petition to change the name of VAWA to the "Partner Violence Reduction Act." And I haven't seen much activity there. Please sign the petition if you are in the U.S. we need 1000 signatures ASAP and eventualy 3000. Tell your friends and family to sign. Here is the link:

Petition: Hope for Victims: Support the Partner Violence Reduction Act | Change.org

[Nynrah Ghost]

I've been spreading the link to the petition to American people I know (unfortunately not that many) with the humble request that they in turn spread the petition as well.