On House floor, Dem lawmaker recounts being raped, molested

[kpete]

Source: The Hill

On House floor, Dem lawmaker recounts being raped, molested
By Pete Kasperowicz - 03/28/12 01:44 PM ET

Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) on Wednesday afternoon recounted her experience being sexually abused as a child and then raped as a young woman.

"Violence against women is as American as apple pie," she said on the House floor. "I know, not only as a legislator, but from personal experience.

"Domestic violence has been a thread throughout my personal life, up to and including being a child repeatedly sexually assaulted, up to and including, being an adult who's been raped. I just don't have enough time to share all these experiences with you."

....................

"I mean, this is what American women are facing."

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/218775-on-house-floor-dem-lawmaker-recounts-being-raped-molested

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VIDEO:
http://thehill.com/video/house/218777-on-house-floor-dem-lawmaker-recounts-being-raped-molested

[DFW]

1. I can imagine what her Repubican colleagues will tell her

Probably, " well you should have worn longer skirts," or some other"helpful" Republican advice.

[zbdent]

2. aspirin ...

[lark]

5. They'll question if "God blessed her with a baby"

or ask if she had an abortion - the f*ing jerks.

[azurnoir]

6. something like

"what did you do to make them do this to you? sounds like a republican comment

[gateley]

10. I was just thinking along those same lines. There HAVE to be Republicans who have

been abused/moslested/raped -- as she said, it's as American as apple pie and happens far too often. I wonder what the Republican victims feel about this?

[alp227]

13. Sen. Scott Brown is one.

Scott Brown says he was sexually abused as a child (Boston Herald, Feb. 2011):

Brown says in the book that he was sexually assaulted when he was 10 years old at a religious camp in Cape Cod, which he attended in the summer of fourth grade.

Brown says the counselor who fondled him was in his mid-20s. He does not disclose the name of the camp in his book, or the denomination.

"I can remember how he looked, every inch of him: his long sandy, light brown hair; his long, full mustache; the beads he wore; the tie-dyed T-shirts and the cutoff jeans, which gave him the look of a hippie," Brown writes in the book, "Against All Odds."

[gateley]

15. That's so sad. I hate this happening to ANYbody! Still, I wonder what his views/statements on this

issue are.

I'm sure that too many victims DO believe "they asked for it" in some say. It's just so wrong.

[bluesbassman]

24. How convenient: "which gave him the look of a hippie"

Not to diminish the trauma of his experience, but it just seems a tad to formulaic that his experience was at the hands of a "hippie" (read Democrat because in regug code verbiage that's how we all look).

[JDPriestly]

40. If you read the case law, child molestation is not just the specialty of

Catholic priests. Just go to a local law library if you have one, or check a library of on-line legal resources including cases.

[bluesbassman]

41. Never said it was, and for the record I'm not minimizing the truama

this man may have experienced. I just find it way too coincidental that this republican suffered his experience at the hands of a "hippie".

[Warpy]

17. They think it's their fault

even if it happened to them when they were kids, because our wonderful culture teaches little girls "don't get raped" but doesn't teach little boys not to rape.

Republican (and some Democratic, sadly) males think the same way for the same reason.

It had to be something she did.

[gateley]

38. I know - it's heartbreaking. nt

[Blue_Tires]

14. Actually the goppers were probably beating their meat

as if they were listening to her read a letter to "Penthouse"

[Matariki]

31. And then go home and jerk off

at the thought of their colleage being abused.

[CreekDog]

3. did they have her escorted out for talking about that topic?

i wouldn't be surprised.

[arcane1]

4. WHY does something like the VAWA *expire* in the first damned place??

I never understood that

[evilhime]

7. So they can have

something to fight over or hold over people's heads . . . like now, they are saying we can't vote on this til we pass the budget . . . it's a threat tactic.

[felix_numinous]

9. +100000!!

VAWA, Rode vs Wade and human rights laws should be made permanent.

[TheWraith]

12. Um...

Neither Roe vs. Wade nor human rights laws expire.

[felix_numinous]

25. Thanks

for the correction. I wish these laws were not able to be reversed.

[craigmatic]

8. She's right this is more common than people think.

On a side note just look at the fucked up comments by the reptards to that story.

[BattyDem]

20. The comments are despicable!

I had to stop reading them because I was getting very angry and upset! What is wrong with these people? Outside of their immediate families, they just don't give a damn about ANY other human being under any circumstances!

[freshwest]

28. Her picture and resume from Wikiepedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwen_Moore

[BattyDem]

32. Oh ... now I get it.

I should have known.

[freshwest]

33. But looking at her eyes and smile, I would trust that spirit there.

She looks beautiful to me.

[BattyDem]

34. She is beautiful ... and courageous!

It could not have been easy to talk about those horrors on the floor of the House, knowing that the Repugs wouldn't be moved. I'm very grateful to her for speaking out for all of us.

[freshwest]

35. That, and when you look at the Wiki page, she is a solid Democrat who has stood up all her life.

This latest thing was natural for her to do. She'd faced some of the worser things in life and it made her stronger.

And those who disparage her really only show how shallow they are and that they haven't done much in their own lives.

[BattyDem]

36. Thanks for posting that link!

She's a fighter! We need more like her in Congress.

[LiberalLoner]

37. Me too.

[longship]

11. So sad, yet so glad

Sad because women have been victimized since time immemorial. Isn't it about fucking time that the better gender is acknowledged for their incredible accomplishments and contributions to humankind.

Glad because the GOP has dug themselves in very deep this year. There's no way women are going to let this pass in November. And if I read the women I know correctly, they're pissed and they will not let the US forget what the GOP has attempted this year.

I will be one guy standing next to you.

[freshwest]

29. Thanks.

[BlueIris]

16. Contrast that against the 'charming' sentiments of this jackass:

http://www.care2.com/causes/wisconsin-lawmaker-thinks-women-are-better-off-beaten-than-divorced.html#ixzz1qAGvoFCk

There has never been greater contrast between 'us' and 'them.'

[calimary]

19. Let me guess - he's a republi-CON.

Yep. Looked it up and BINGO.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/167037/wisconsin-gop-legislators-go-after-single-mothers

I hope there is reincarnation. So this bastard can come back as a battered wife.

[calimary]

18. Wonder if geraldo rivera and all his little friends will be questioning how she dresses.

They're ASSHOLES of the First Order!

Sometimes I wish we could send all the pox noise/limbaugh believers to one of those distant planets that are capable of sustaining life, and get them out of our hair permanently. Then they'd all be free to set up the most hard-ass, intolerant, punitive civilization that they've ever dreamed of. Or a New Somalia. Whichever comes first.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101484464

[Uncle Joe]

21. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[bobthedrummer]

22. Thank you Gwen for your courage and service representing my old hometown, Milwaukee, in DC. K&R n/t

[Iliyah]

23. Her GOP colleauges

probably wanted to ask her if she liked it and she probably deserved it as well. Cause we all know that its the WOMEN'S fault.

[Mysfyt]

26. at least rush limbaugh

isn't asking her to send him the vids..

a step up?

[TheMadMonk]

30. Yet. /nt

[roguevalley]

27. she is a brave brave woman. god bless her and may she win.

[Angry Dragon]

39. kick