City Council Speaker Christine Quinn held a press conference to announce a bill that would extend protections against domestic violence. The bill would cover domestic partners and couples who have lived together. Photo: William Alatriste.
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By TRENTON STRAUBE
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Updated Friday, March 7, 2008
New York State ranks 50th in the nation in regards to the domestic violence protections it offers its residents. Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn want to improve that shameful statistic. On Wednesday they introduced the citywide Domestic Violence Civil Protection Act, and they promised to champion the cause in Albany.
The bill extends domestic violence protections to unmarried couples who live or have lived together and to domestic partners, including same-sex couples.
“The goal of this bill is to bring the greatest level of equity the city could to the concept of city domestic partners,” Quinn said.
While advocates praised Quinn for tackling an overlooked topic, they also criticized the bill for not covering enough people, and they worried it might hamper progress of a broader statewide bill currently moving forward in Albany.
First some background. Let’s say your boyfriend physically abuses you. Under current law, you can seek an order of protection from him via two venues: criminal court and family court. If you file for an order of protection in criminal court, you must have your boyfriend arrested. But to get him arrested, he must first do something illegal. Clearly, more than one Catch-22 lie in this scenario.
By contrast, if you file in family court, you don’t have to have him arrested, the burden of proof that he’s dangerous is not on you, and the entire process in general is more controlled.
The only problem: to file in family court, you have to be a family. Current New York State law defines that as being married, divorced, blood-related or the parents of the same child.
Quinn’s new bill broadens that definition of family so that more people could file for a civil order of protection in Superior Court without having the abuser arrested.
The bill excludes those who haven’t lived together, who are not domestic partners and who are younger than 18.
“I’m not saying this bill covers every form of violence that exists between two individuals,” Quinn said. “This bill seeks to make a sense of equality between domestic partners, which are in the city’s jurisdiction, and married people. Let me be clear: That’s not to say there aren’t other people in other forms of relationships who face domestic violence. We thought it was appropriate for the bill to track with the domestic partnership definition in city law.”
Kim Fountain, Regional and National Programs’ deputy director of the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, peppered her praise for Quinn with caution.
“We are thrilled Quinn is showing strong and passionate interest in this topic—it has a particularly strong impact on LGBT survivors of domestic violence,” Fountain said. “But the drawbacks regarding the Quinn proposal are numerous,” especially when the bill is compared to the statewide proposal carried by Assembly member Helene Weinstein. That bill is much more inclusive in its definition of “family.”
Jessica Vasquez, the executive director of The New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, expressed similar opinions. “The coalition has concerns about the proposal announced by Bloomberg and Quinn,” she said, adding only that “the variations between it and the state proposal are significant.”
The state Assembly already passed Weinstein’s Access to Civil Orders of Protection Bill, but the legislation has yet to come to a floor vote in the Senate. That scenario may change this year.
For starters, the bill finally has a Republican sponsor—Sen. George Winner.
“The environment [in Albany] is the best it’s been in a number of years for it to become law,” said Ross Levi. As director of Public Policy and Education for gay lobby group Empire State Pride Agenda, he has followed the bill about eight years. “The election climate bodes well,” he said. “This is an issue that should embarrass the legislature.”
Both Quinn and Bloomberg promised to take the issue of domestic violence protections to Albany. Quinn plans to meet with Assembly members to decide the best legislative vehicle.
But some advocates worry that tampering with current legislation may derail its momentum. Plus, they argument, passing the state bill would render the city bill moot.
Levi disagreed. “Clearly, the state should move on this, but until it does, Quinn’s proposal moves us in the right direction. It continues to bring attention to this topic.”
“The mayor and I felt a sense of urgency,” Quinn said of the city bill. “We wanted to do what we could on the city level while simultaneously working on the state level to get more done through family court.”
“Ultimately, this issue has to be dealt with on the state level,” Quinn said. “Same-sex marriage equality would address this issue in a significant way. Also, family court falls under the jurisdiction of the state legislature. We would take broader options around family court issues if we could. We can’t.”
Meanwhile, in Gotham, the city council must pass the bill before it becomes law. Council members Peter Vallone Jr. and Leroy Comrie are co-sponsoring the bill.
At least two hearings will be held on the citywide legislation—a process that Carrie Davis, Director of Adult Services at The LGBT Community Center, looks forward to. She hosts an annual task force on LGBTQ domestic violence and works for the NYS Coalition for Fair Access to Family Court.
“I look forward to the hearings on the city bill so we can start making this a better bill,” Davis said. “It’s an expansive process, and we’re just beginning. But I do believe that Quinn will be a good advocate in Albany.” In short, she said, “we’re looking for more protections for our community.”
Domestic Violence Facts
All parties agree that domestic violence is a problem and that any light shed on the topic is welcome.
“We’re trying to get the LGBT community to understand that domestic violence is a huge issue,” said AVP’s Fountain. “Our rates are the same as heterosexual couples: one in four. In fact, nearly half our clients are from domestic violence.”
According to its data, NYC AVP opened 322 domestic violence cases and served 401 new victims in 2006. Of those, 50 percent (201 clients) came from females and 48 percent (194) from males.
Furthermore, lesbians represented 28 percent of the victim/survivor reports and 35 percent were gay men. Of the 11 percent who identified as heterosexual, 37 percent identified as transgender.
Forms of domestic violence reported were intimidation, physical assaults, verbal harassment, emotional abuse, stalking, psychological control, and heterosexist or HIV-related threats such as threatening to out somebody or disclose his or her HIV status.
For help or information on domestic violence, contact the AVP 24-hour bilingual help line at 212-714-1141 or visit avp.org.
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