Snark Attack!: Violence Against Women Act

Snark: to annoy or irritate

"Snark" has been in English language dictionaries since at least 1906, and Lewis Carroll used the word to describe a mythological animal in his poem, The Hunting of the Snark (1874). Most recently, the word has come to characterize snappish, sarcastic, or mean-spirited comments or actions directed at those who annoy or irritate us.

At first, this blog was just going be a place to gripe, but because it's more satisfying to take action than it is to merely complain, now most of the posts/reposts suggest ways to get involved in solving problems.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Violence Against Women Act

The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA) will be on the Senate floor for debate and a vote this week.

Email your Senators today and thank them if they have signed on as co-sponsors of S.1925 as introduced by Judiciary Committee Chair Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). If your Senators are not sponsors, urge them to vote yes on S. 1925.

We have the votes to stop a filibuster, but VAWA came out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in a straight party-line vote. Fortunately, 8 Republican Senators now support the Reauthorization (S. 1925). We will need every vote. We must keep bipartisan support for VAWA.

Tell your Senators that VAWA has had bipartisan support in the past and we cannot allow this crucial legislation to fall victim to partisanship now, when millions of women and men need the protections and services it includes. Since it first became law in 1994, millions have benefited from VAWA.

Between 1993 and 2010, the rate of intimate partner violence declined by an amazing 67%.

States are taking violence against women more seriously and all states now have stalking laws, criminal sanctions for violation of civil protection orders, and reforms that make date or spousal rape as serious of a crime as stranger rape.

VAWA established the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which receives over 22,000 calls each month.

VAWA funds train over 500,000 law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, and other personnel each year.

The current VAWA reauthorization bill is the first that includes access to law enforcement and services for Native American women, better access for immigrant women who fear deportation if they report violence, and better access for LGBT victims. Violence is violence and we must stop it.

This landmark legislation sends the message that violence against women is a crime and will not be tolerated. If Congress fails to reauthorize VAWA, what message will it be sending?

Stand with me and the millions of people who need VAWA today. Please act now to urge your Senators to reauthorize VAWA.

For women's lives,