The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence sent a letter on the issue. GOP's domestic violence bill panned

Homophobic. Anti-victim. Racist. Elitist.

That’s what some of the nation’s most prominent women’s groups think of the House Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act.


It’s the most recent interjection of women’s issues into contemporary politics, and a clear sign that the GOP’s VAWA bill isn’t a slam dunk with prominent members of the women’s community.

Opponents of the GOP bill say that the legislation needs special protection for gay, immigrant and Native American victims. Republicans say VAWA should deal squarely with the issue of violence against women regardless of their ethnicity or sexuality, noting that their legislation doesn’t weaken protection for any segment of the population.

The tension came to a head on Thursday morning.

First, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence sent a sharply worded letter to Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and ranking Democrat John Conyers (D-Mich.), that called the legislation “an anti-victim bill that promotes a racist, elitist and homophobic agenda.”

Then, representatives to some of the nation’s most respected women’s groups headed to Capitol Hill for a meeting with three House Judiciary Committee aides. Groups including the National Organization for Women, Break the Cycle and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) were represented.

The meeting was heated, according to several sources who attended. Tralonne Shorter, a top NCADV aide who was named in the letter to Smith, showed up for the 11 a.m. meeting but decided to not attend when she heard how angry the Judiciary Committee Republicans were with her letter.

The message: we don’t support your bill. Plus, the groups are peeved that they weren’t consulted by the GOP on the drafting of the bill, and then they were asked to support the legislation. Republicans are trying to get the message out that VAWA is supposed to be bipartisan.

“It is disappointing that what has always been a bipartisan issue has turned into partisan election year politics,” said Lisa Boothe, a spokesman for Adams, who is sponsoring the bill. “The House’s reauthorization of VAWA is and will always be about the victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.”

But it’s not as simple to these groups.

“There are some real differences of opinion here. as far as we’re concerned,” said Juley Fencher, who attended the meeting on behalf of Break the Cycle. “What is in the bill that was introduced by Rep. [Sandy] Adams is not a reauthorizaiton of the Violence Against Women Act. It’s a roll back.”

Terry O’Neill, the president of NOW, associates herself with the letter sent to the committe, and told POLITICO “the agenda that is being promoted by the Adams bill is racist and homophobic and leaves women behind, and it’s not OK.”

The legislation is set to be marked up in committee next week.