Obama signs expanded Violence Against Women Act

[Shawn Sunshine]

President Barack Obama on Thursday heralded the expanded protections offered to Native Americans, gay, lesbian and transgender victims as well as undocumented immigrants in the reauthorized Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) he signed into law.

The president highlighted that the reauthorization signed Thursday closed a loophole for Native American women, whose non-native partners were essentially immune from prosecution because tribal police would not arrest non-Native men and local police would not make arrests on Indian reservations.

For gay, lesbian and transgender survivors, the new bill allows federal funding to be directed to LGBT-related efforts to help survivors.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-sign-expanded-violence-against-women-act-151807346--politics.html

[Madisyn]

Very good news, I had missed the part where transgender individuals were covered under this.

[Dawn Heart]

I have heard that there are some gender identity / trans protections in this newly signed and expanded law. Does anyone know what those are?

[Shantel]

Found this in my email junk file from Patty Murray:

Last week, President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Act into law. This is a long delayed, hard won, and badly needed victory for millions of women, especially those who were told that they weren't worthy of VAWA's protections. It means that finally, after over 16 months of struggle, tribal women, the LGBT community, immigrants, and women on college campuses will have the tools and resources this life-saving bill provides. There is absolutely no reason that it should have taken this long for the House leadership to come around on a bill that had overwhelming bipartisan support. But passage is a validation of what we've been saying since this bill expired in 2011 - VAWA has never been, and should never be, a partisan bill.