Obama and VAWA

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has been a controversial bill since it was first passed in 1994. It has been up for reauthorization multiple times since then, as well as facing a Supreme Court hearing. It’s been modified and changed along the way, including creating more gender-neutral language, including same-sex couples, and even eliminating some parts of it on the grounds that those parts were unconstitutional.

The bill is up for reauthorization in 2012 and Obama’s administration has announced Obama may veto it. Currently the version in the House differs from that in the Senate in one very important way: the House version fails to protect LGBT individuals from discrimination in VAWA funded programs. It looks as though Obama is putting his money, or his veto, where his mouth is with regards to his support of recognizing same-sex couples.

If this is a political ploy to gain votes from LGBT individuals, it’s working on me. If this is an attempt to force the Republicans to protect LGBT individuals in VAWA, well I hope that works too.

This was also published at The Good Men Project.