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SALT LAKE CITY — Members of the Men's Anti-violence Network of Utah gathered Monday on Capitol Hill in an effort to get support for the Dating Violence and Protection Act educate people about the effects of domestic and sexual violence on victims.
Jayson Hale and Jonathan Cheever, both members of the U.S. Olympic snowboarding team, joined with members of the network to take part in the Clothesline Project, helping to make over 100 hand-decorated T-shirts with personal messages of hope for violence victims. \
The shirts, many of which were created by victims of violence, were meant to illustrate the impact of violence on its victims and the larger community.
"Some people very close to me have dealt with abuse and rape," said U.S. snowboarder Jayson Hale. "It changes their lives. It's something they can't get back."
Hale said reading the messages on the shirts was a "breathtaking" experience for him. He said he is in a position to help young people understand the importance of stopping domestic and sexual abuse.
"Looking at the experiences of the victims, it makes me want to learn and to educate myself so I can educate other people," he said. "If we can help in any way to reach out and talk to kids and adults about abuse, we're gonna do whatever we can to help."
The gathering Monday came as Senate Democrats launched a new attempt to broaden the Violence Against Women Act by expanding its provisions to cover gays, lesbians and Native Americans.
The legislation to renew the act appeared on a smooth path toward passage in the Senate, possibly by the end of this week. Monday's vote to make the bill the next order of business was 85-8.
Senate passage would send the bill to the House. Advocates hope that Republicans, smarting from election losses among women voters in November, won't repeat their resistance last year to the Senate approach.
"Allowing partisan delays to put women's lives at risk is simply shameful," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said before the vote. He said he hoped convincing support for the legislation in the Senate would "send a strong message to House Republican leaders that further partisan delay is unacceptable."
The Senate bill, while making minor concessions to meet GOP concerns, is essentially the same as the measure that passed that chamber last April on a 68-31 vote, with 15 Republicans voting yes. It focuses on ensuring that college students, immigrants, Native Americans and gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people have access to anti-abuse programs.
It is a vehicle for women affected by violence to express their emotions by decorating a shirt. They then hang the shirt on a clothesline to be viewed by others as testimony to the problem of violence against women.
Credit: ClotheslineProject.org
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said that since the Violence Against Women Act, or VAWA, was enacted in 1994 the annual incidence of domestic violence has fallen by more than 50 percent.
"We have something here that's been a success. These are thousands of lives made immeasurably better," said Leahy, sponsor of the legislation with Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho.
The White House, in a statement supporting the Senate bill, noted that rates of domestic violence against Native American women were among the highest in the country and the measure would build on existing efforts to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of tribal justice systems.
The Violence Against Women Act provides grants to state and local offices for legal assistance, transitional housing, law enforcement training, stalker databases and domestic violence hotlines. It also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the Justice Department.
The programs authorized under the act are still in place. But without reauthorization of the law, they cannot be expanded or improved. The Senate bill would consolidate 13 existing programs into four and set aside some $659 million over five years for the programs, down 17 percent from the last reauthorization in 2005. The bill would also give more emphasis to sexual assault prevention and take steps to reduce the rape kit backlog. In a concession to Republicans, it removes a provision in last year's bill that would have increased visas for immigrant victims of domestic violence.
