Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) shared today her powerful story of being sexually abused and raped as a child. In a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, Rep. Moore told her colleagues about being date raped and having her underwear stolen as a trophy of the event.
As one of the female legislators who is fed up with Republicans blocking reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Rep. Moore said that opposition to the bill brought up memories of her personal history:
I don’t have enough time to share all these experiences with you but I can tell you that when this bill came out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with all the Republican Senators, all of the guys voting no, it brought up some terrible memories for me of having boys sit in a locker room and sort of bet that I, the egghead, couldn’t be ‘had.’ And then the appointed boy, when he saw that I wasn’t going to be so willing , completed a date rape and then took my underwear to display it to the rest of the boys. This is what American women are facing.
Watch it:
Republicans have expressed opposition to the usually-uncontroversial bill because of added provisions for marginalized communities including the LGBT community, Native Americans, and undocumented people.