Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act

In certain respects, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is indeed workable and achieves some of its intended goals. VAWA was originally designed to make communities and homes safer for women, as well as to protect women’s civil rights. According to Modi, Palmer, and Armstrong (2014), since the implementation of VAWA in 1994, the rate of domestic violence directed towards women declined by 53% between 1993 and 2008. The overall estimated number of victims of intimate partner violence in the U.S dropped immensely, from 2.4 million in 1994 to 907,000 in 2010 (Modi, Palmer & Armstrong, 2014).

In February 2011, the council of Australian Governments (COAG) introduced the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022. The policy includes a 12 year national action plan aims to interrelate the significant work conducted by all Australian governments, community groups/organisations and individuals aiming to reduce the level of violence directed towards woman and children.

It’s not hard to say that America has come so far into society and our freedom. How can our country forget when slavery ended in 1865 and gave women more rights in 1920. However, over time America has ignored the basic rights of transgender people. Transgender people are not any different from African Americans, or women. Why should they be treated any different, they're humans just like everybody else. They deserve the same basic treatment as a human rather than being treated like they're not from this planet. There are transgender people today who are getting harassed and tormented for just going into the bathroom for what they identify as. They should be able to go into a bathroom for which gender they identify as. Rather than making special bathrooms for transgender people that make them stand out and feel like they’re labeling themselves for using.

Recently, the issue of allowing transgender people access to public facilities according to the gender they identify with has caused much debate throughout the United States. The bathroom bill seeks to control access to public facilities of transgender individuals, based on the gender they were assigned at birth. In 2015, bills were passed stating entering a bathroom not assigned to a person at birth was a crime. Surrounded by misconception, the bill does “not legalize harassment, stalking, violence, or sexual assault.” Since the bill arose, there have not been a rise in violence or other incidents in the states protecting the transgender rights (Transgender Equality). The bill simply states if one is living as a woman, to use the women’s restroom,

House Bill 2, also referred to as the bathroom bill or HB2, was passed into law as the Public Facilities Privacy and Securities Act. There is so much more to this recently passed law than allowing transgendered people to access there bathroom of choice. HB2 sets a certain criteria for who may, or may not be protected against discrimination. A person is only protected from discrimination of the information on their birth certificate and their religion. Sexual preference however, is not protected by state law, and it has never been. This law also removes the standard minimum wage set by a city or county that is imposed on private employers. Schools that depend on federal education funding could be affected by HB2. NC state law requires students to use bathrooms according to their gender. The federal government has a law that does not allow discrimination in any school program, and it also covers sexual preferences under it’s sexual discrimination clause. This law is a disgrace to what the fore fathers of this country clearly stated in the Declaration of Independence.

In 2015 The North Carolina House passed a bill now referred to as the “Bathroom Bill”, legally known as North Carolina HB2. The direct implications from North Carolina HB2 is that people regardless of current or identifying genders, must use the public bathroom that correlates to the gender on their birth certificate. (“HOUSE BILL DRH40005-TC-1B”) HB2 has been pushed by its supporting lawmakers as a protection on the usage of public bathrooms. Lawmakers claim that the bill is made to protect cisgender individuals, those born to their gender, from transgender individuals, from harassment in the bathroom setting. Yet, there have been zero recorded cases of a transgender individual

The HB2 law shouldn’t be passed because it can cause crime and a lot of angry people also the crime rate would go up tremendously. It will protected men, women and children if the HB2 law isn’t passed because men wouldn’t be able to go in the women bathrooms and women wouldn’t be able to go in men bathrooms. The HB2 law is stopping sports in North Carolina because they think men should go in women bathrooms but North Carolina thinks different and I totally agree with North Carolina on not passing the law. The liberal people that wants the HB2 law passed just wants attention and to start a big argument with the people that think the law shouldn’t be passed. In the bible it talks about men shouldn’t go with men and women shouldn’t go with women and that’s how its supposed to be. The HB2 law is making North Carolina lose millions of dollars just because they want the HB2 law passed.

Did you know that House Bill 2 eliminates any state law claim for discrimination in the workplace based on gender orientation? You can now get fired for your race, religious beliefs, sex, etc. HB2 has been just discrimination against Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgender, Transsexuals and Queer people (LGBTQ people). The downfall of that claim was it cited a study that said North Carolina might lose more than $500 million, not that it already had. At the time we found a more accurate estimate of losses was between $77 million and the 201 million (Will Doran). House Bill 2 is referred to as the bathroom law. The prominence of House Bill 2 is to determine the rights of transsexual and transgender people to use the bathroom without discrimination. But the state overrode it and ended up doing harm.

When it comes to the HB2, it is not going against transgender human beings, it is simply keeping citizens in the community safe. For example, a man could say that he was transgender and called himself a female just to get into the woman’s bathroom and sexually assault a woman or a child. No matter what anyone says, most women tend to be frightened when they are with or around a strange man. For example, in the essay “Just Walk On By: Black Men and Public Space”, it talks about how Staples and a young woman were walking in the same direction on a sidewalk at night. When the young woman realized that Staples was behind her, she instantly became frightened, which is understandable. The young woman began to walk faster trying to get away from Staples not grasping that he wasn’t going to hurt her. Eventually, the woman was out of sight and away from Staples. Even though the essay “Just Walk On By: Black Men and Public Space” does not talk about bathroom safety itself, it does show how people feel harmed by others looks and who is around them because of stereotyping. For women and children, the door is always open for the possibility to become sexually assaulted. With this law passed, it gives women and children a small sense of relief. Supporters of the HB2 stand up for their rights and say that HB2 “defends religious liberty and protects girls in public restrooms

Prior to the passing of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, previous bills tried to eliminate various aspects of human trafficking (Polaris Project, 2015). In 1910, Congress signed The Mann Act of 1910 into action. The act made it illegal for anyone to transport a girl or woman across state, or country lines, for the purpose of prostitution. Then, in 1930, The Tariff Act of 1930 made it illegal to import products that were made by forced laborers. However, neither of these acts addressed the full magnitude of human trafficking (Polaris Project, 2015).

LGBT members feel as if they have been swept under the rug with the bill taking its place, their rights, and protection. Members of the LGBT community and ordinary people across the country aren’t exactly content thus ruining the reputation of this beloved state. Performers and business have great hostility in a state where discrimination is open. If one were to think to get rid of protections for the LGBT was wrong, House Bill 2 may take away civil-rights protection to those who really need it, hence the bill should be viewed entirely at each portion. House Bill 2 is something that needs to be repealed not only for the transgender but for the other citizens of North Carolina. The signing of the bathroom bill gives another great reason why discrimination is evident in America. Getting rid of HB2 may take a small step forward for America as a country. In a place where hatred is found almost everywhere, one should at least have the privilege to be

The women’s movement of 1970 lead to the creation of the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA). During this time period women came together to fight against rape, battering and other forms of violence. They fought for the prosecution of men who raped and abused women. They also advocated for steps to prevent rape, and to open shelters to protect women. In 1990, the Violence Against Women’s Act was introduced to the court system. After four years of debate the Violence Against Women’s Act was signed protecting women and children. (Criminal Justice)

Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, containing a provision for the federal civil remedy to victims of gender-based violence, even if no criminal charges had been filed against the alleged perpetrator of that violence. Then, this statute was challenged in the Supreme Court by Morrison alleging that parts of the Violence Against Women Act were unconstitutional, therefore void, because it exceeds congressional power under the Commerce Clause. Leading up to this, Christy Brzonkala a freshman at Virginia Tech was assaulted and raped by Antonio Morrison and James Crawford. An investigation was followed up in which Morrison had admitted having sexual contact with her, despite her telling him “no” twice. A state grand jury, not

TIME magazine in April 5, 2016, in North Carolina, the law passed recently became the first state law in the country limiting transgender people to use the bathroom corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates, also excluding LGBT people from anti-discrimination protections, plus blocking municipalities from passing their own anti-discrimination rules. (Dalesio, 2016)

The House Bill 2 has become a huge topic these past few months with its main hot button issue being the accessibility of public bathrooms to the transgender community. For those whom are unfamiliar with the bill it was created and issued by North Carolinas governor, Pat McCrory. The bill focuses on sticking to the gender norms of public and business owned bathroom. Thus making it illegal for someone whom identifies as a different gender than they sex they are born with to enter the bathroom that they see fit. One of the points that McCrory tosses around in order to keep HB2 in a positive light is that it will help protect the women and children in the community from “predators.” Well how does this bill work when it is applied to public schools in North Carolina were children are the main concern? The answer is that it does not work at all. For now, the previous policy for public school bathrooms are going to stay the same thanks to the federal government, but when applied to schools it becomes a toxic environment for everyone who is not cis gendered.