FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Allie Bones
Email: allie@acesdv.org 
Phone:  602-279-2900

Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Opposes Proposed Changes to Title IX

Phoenix, AZ – 11/19/18.  The Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence (ACESDV) strongly opposes the proposed changes to Title IX put forth by the Trump administration. These changes jeopardize the safety of those experiencing sexual harassment and assault in public schools and colleges. Secretary DeVos must listen to survivors of sexual violence and the advocacy community when considering changing these important regulations.

Title IX is part of a civil rights law that was instituted to protect students from gender-based discrimination, including sexual harassment and assault, and governs how federally funded educational institutions handle these cases. The proposed changes significantly limit the definition of sexual harassment, essentially requiring students to miss class and/or drop out of school entirely before the sexual harassment case would qualify under Title IX. It would also allow schools to ignore sexual harassment and assault that occur off-campus. Additionally, the proposed changes allow schools to treat Title IX cases like criminal charges, where the burden of proof is much higher. This creates undue burden on survivors in cases where there is limited evidence, enabling schools to ignore these cases, which will cause a hostile environment for student survivors.

What’s more, the proposed changes allow survivors to be cross-examined by the accused through a third party, which will increase barriers to reporting and further traumatize survivors. Additionally, the proposed changes severely limit who can take a report of sexual harassment and assault. This means that unless the student reports to specific employees, they are not guaranteed assistance and/or protections of any kind.

These proposed changes limit the school’s accountability and create an environment of impunity for those causing sexual harm. ACESDV stands with survivors opposing these changes and asks the Trump administration to focus on real solutions to campus sexual violence, instead of rolling back needed protections.

For additional information please contact the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence at 602-279-2900. To speak with a Victim Specialist please contact the Sexual and Domestic Violence Services Helpline at 800-782-6400 or via chat at www.acesdv.org/get-help-now.

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To say that we are disappointed and heartbroken would be an understatement. We had hoped for a different outcome than the one that has just occurred. 

At the same time, we are filled with love and awe for the survivors, sisters and brothers, who bravely, courageously and boldly stood in their power to share the darkest secrets of their past.  They turned their shame into activism, their anger into calls, and their silence into speak-outs.  For this, we are forever changed, and forever grateful.

Now, it is time to turn our attention to elections.  The last day to register to vote for the upcoming general election is this Tuesday, October 9^th.  Vote by mail ballots will be arriving in mailboxes soon after that.  And then the mid-term elections will be here on Tuesday, November 6^th.

We have work to do.  The Violence Against Women Act is up for reauthorization.  The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act will hopefully be reauthorized this coming week. We need to fight for state funding for sexual violence prevention and response services.  We need rape crisis centers and services for victims all across the state. Policies at every level of government impact victims of sexual and domestic violence daily.

The only way for us to continue to make an impact towards the end of sexual and domestic violence is to ensure that those in positions of power represent our voices and take our issues and concerns seriously. Engage with candidates.  Ask questions.  Be informed.  And then vote. 

Like our lives depend on it.

Please visit the Civic Engagement page on website to register to vote and get involved.

For Immediate Release:

Contact: Tasha Menaker, Chief Strategy Officer
Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence
p: 602-279-2900 x426
media@acesdv.org

Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Holds Emergency Town Hall Tonight: October 1, 2018

Phoenix, Arizona – October 1, 2018.  With a vote on the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination looming tomorrow, the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence (ACESDV) and community partners are hosting an emergency town hall tonight Monday, 10/1/18 at 6pm titled “Enough is Enough: Survivors Must be Believed”.

In order to center the voices of community and speak truth to power, this free event will be held at the South Mountain Community Center, 212 E Alta Vista Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85042.

This event, in collaboration with Creosote Partners, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, Poder in Action, and Trans Queer Pueblo, sends the message that enough is enough, survivors must be believed and the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court Justice should not move forward.

It is our hope the entire community can unite in justice to participate in this important discussion.

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About the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence

The Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence is the designated dual issue coalition in Arizona addressing both sexual and domestic violence for over 35 years. Our purpose is to increase public awareness about the issues of sexual and domestic violence, enhance the safety of and services for sexual and domestic violence victims and survivors and end sexual and domestic violence in Arizona communities. We do this by providing education & training, technical assistance, advocating at the legislature in public policy as well as providing assistance to survivors and advocates through our Sexual and Domestic Violence Services Helpline. www.acesdv.org

The courage shown by Dr. Ford at this morning’s Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing was beyond anything that should ever be expected from a survivor of sexual assault. She was described by members of the committee as being heroic and a role model for survivors everywhere. We cannot agree more.

What was concerning for us to witness was the questioning of the victim by Rachel Mitchell, on leave from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Ms. Mitchell questioned Dr. Ford in a manner inconsistent with principles of trauma-informed interviewing. She jarringly jumped from topic to topic and continually questioned the timeline of events, focusing on details that are often difficult for sexual assault survivors to recall. Furthermore, Ms. Mitchell focused on Dr. Ford’s motivation for coming forward, clearly trying to connect her disclosure to a partisan scheme. Dr. Ford was not on trial, yet the questioning transpired as through she were under cross-examination. As we watched the hearing with sexual assault survivors from our communities, they shared how emotional and revictimizing it was to watch Dr. Ford be treated as though she was a defendant.

Given that Ms. Mitchell discontinued questioning early in Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony, it was clear her presence was a partisan tactic to undermine Dr. Ford’s credibility and suggest her disclosure was part of a political conspiracy instead of an extremely courageous act of civic responsibility. Any prosecutor who agreed to participate in such a process inherently allowed themselves to become a pawn of a partisan scheme rooted in concern over optics of an all-male panel questioning the female victim.

In light of this, we have serious concerns about the impact of this hearing on survivors nationwide, and especially within our local community of Maricopa County. How can sexual assault survivors have confidence they will be treated with respect, have their reports believed, and their cases taken seriously? As was pointed out during the hearing, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office’s own protocol for appropriately responding to sexual assault cases outlined characteristics of trauma-informed interviewing that were completely absent from Ms. Mitchell’s questioning. The effects of this will have practical impacts long after this hearing and political circus ends.

This hearing was an egregious display designed to humiliate, undermine, and discredit Dr. Ford. It sent a loud message to all sexual assault survivors. We commend Dr. Ford’s strength and courage—it was inspiring to watch as she stood in the face of a patriarchal system designed to silence victims. We stand with her and all survivors today and every day.

Over the last week, I have watched with disgust the Senate Judiciary Committee’s treatment of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. And now that two more brave women have come forward with an additional allegation against Kavanaugh, it’s even more urgent to #BelieveSurvivors.

At this juncture, there is only one appropriate way to move forward: this Thursday’s hearings must be cancelled to allow for these allegations to be investigated thoroughly.

Senator Flake, we listened to your comments on the floor this morning with great interest. Unfortunately, your words came up short, yet again.  It’s time to call off tomorrow’s hearing and to call for a proper investigation into these extremely serious allegations.

It is extremely concerning to us that the committee charged with considering and passing the Violence Against Women Act, which is again up for reauthorization, has not appropriately handled the allegations or Dr. Ford since this story broke.  From questioning the women’s memory and suggesting that perhaps they were attacked by someone else, to comments that suggest that it happened so long ago, it shouldn’t ruin his life, it wasn’t that serious, and on and on. Tweets and comments from leaders on the Judiciary Committee have us wondering just how much progress has been made since the passage of the Violence Against Women Act 24 years ago, and why they feel that communities and systems should be held to higher standards of responses to sexual violence than they are. 

For sexual assault survivors, their callousness feels gut-wrenching.

Fewer than three out of every 100 rapes are ever brought to justice in court. Our president made the horrific claim that there’s no way the assault was “as bad as she says” because she would have reported it to law enforcement otherwise. But let me be clear: disclosing one’s experience with sexual violence does not make it more or less real. That trauma informs the way one experiences the world, and viral news of sexual assault exacerbates it.

Senators, and Judiciary leadership in particular, have treated these survivors as though they are on trial, rather than Kavanaugh.  But this is not a trial and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is not a defendant. The inclusion of a prosecutor confuses this hearing with something criminal in nature, which this hearing is not – in fact, the Senators have refused calls for an independent investigation. Why then bring in a prosecutor if they don’t want the issue to be handled by the FBI?

Senator Flake, it’s time for you to show that you are committed to addressing violence against women—and to properly vetting Judge Kavanaugh, as you would any Supreme Court nominee.  You can stop tomorrow’s planned hearing and call for an investigation to be opened today.  Survivors are counting on you to do the right thing. 

Violence is violence, regardless if it is an individual or state perpetrator.  Women, men and children fleeing violence in their homes, communities and countries come to the United States for safety – they literally risk everything because staying is worse than the options that exist on the treacherous route north. The federal government’s “zero tolerance” policy to prosecute those at the border without discretion perpetrates additional violence and creates further trauma for these children and families. Compounding the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy is a major reversal in policy and defense by the Department of Justice that survivors of domestic violence qualify for asylum. This more restrictive interpretation of asylum laws places already severely vulnerable populations at risk of further harm, and undermines our progress toward addressing the unique and intersectional needs of immigrant women and children exposed to violence.

Again, many of these parents at our border are fleeing extreme violence. They are desperately seeking safety for their children. That search for protection is not a crime. We would do the same thing for our children. While the administration has now signed an Executive Order that children will be incarcerated with their parents instead of the traumatic separation that has been happening, the Trump administration has simply created a policy of internment and is working to undermine years of case law that has dictated that families cannot be held for more than 20 days. On-going detention is harmful for kids and is bad for families, both in the short and long term. The Executive Order is a false solution, window dressing due to the outrage, but does not solve the problem.

This crisis is part of the larger manufactured crisis by the Trump administration in its inhumane treatment of Dreamers, asylum seekers, and other immigrants. It is simply wrong and must be stopped. Join the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual & Domestic Violence as we march with others on June 30th at the Arizona State Capitol demanding that the government change policy to a bi-partisan, fair, and humane immigration solution.

Statement by ACESDV Public Policy Team