Brody's Notes... Federal Domestic Violence Law To Protect Lesbian & Gay Victims

By Brody Levesque (Bethesda, Maryland) June 12 | A memorandum issued yesterday by David J Barron, the acting assistant attorney general of the U. S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel states: 

[Federal] domestic violence law(s) (Violence Against Women Act) also contain phrases such as 'dating partner' and 'intimate partner.' The text, relevant case law and legislative history all support the conclusion” that the law’s criminal provisions “apply when the offender and the victim are the same sex."

In a related press release from the Human Rights Campaign praising the memo, HRC President Joe Solmonese said:

"Today’s memorandum by the Department of Justice is one step forward in ensuring that LGBT people are protected by our federal domestic violence laws. Some of our families, like all Americans, experience domestic violence and those impacted by such violence should enjoy equal protections, and equal dignity, when they seek assistance from law enforcement.  We thank the Department of Justice for releasing this important interpretation.”

According to HRC, a 2010 report by the National Center for Victims of Crime and the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, intimate partner violence occurs in the relationships of LGBT people at about the same rate as in heterosexual relationships.  In these situations, it is important that LGBT victims are afforded the same protections from violence as all other Americans.

HRC provided the Department of Justice with a recommendation to clarify that the criminal provisions of the Violence Against Women Act should apply in instances where both the offender and the victim are of the same sex in its Blueprint for Positive Change, a series of policy recommendations provided to the Obama administration.   In addition, HRC is currently working with a coalition of advocacy groups to draft statutory language that would ensure that LGBT victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking would be explicitly included in future legislative updates to the Violence Against Women Act.