People gather at the mural of the young Mexican-American, Vannessa Guillen
A new bill has been passed, which takes a strong stance against sexual harassment in the military. This bill was passed after 20-year-old Vanessa Guillén was murdered in an armory by a fellow soldier. The murderer was found out to be Aaron David Robinson, who murdered Vanessa in Fort Hood, Texas. Before she disappeared, she told her mom that she was experiencing sexual harassment from an Army sergeant but was concerned about the backfire of filing a complaint. This bill makes sexual harassment a punishable crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It will also permit those who were sexually harassed or assaulted to file claims within the Department of Defense for compensation.
This bill and the story of Vanessa Guillén have given a lot of women the power to speak up about their experiences with sexual harassment. Though truly devastating was Guillén's death, a lot of great things have come from it. Hundreds of survivors went to the media to express their sorrow for Vanessa. Their stories spread throughout social media with the hashtag #IAmVannessaGuillén. It is remarkable that all these women are open about what they have been through, and now with this bill in place to protect them, our government can convict those who are guilty.
It is incredible that when confronted with a problem in our government, we have the steps in place to fix it. To get this bipartisan bill enacted, both sides of the political spectrum have agreed on its content. It was passed by both the Senate and the president to be enacted. The bill is an excellent example of what checks and balances can accomplish. This bill makes me feel more confident in our government's ability to keep our troops safe and the government's ability to adapt to our country's current problems.
What other issues in our country need to be addressed?
Who do we convict or blame for those problems?
3 comments:
I think this bill is a clear step forward in the right direction - protecting individuals from sexual harassment and providing them a safe platform to report the sexual harasser without fear. As mentioned in the article, both aisles of the political spectrum are supportive of a bill that criminalizes sexual harassment. In this specific instance, the universality of the issue is what allowed the proposal of the bill to be so successful and smooth. If one were to not be in support of this bill, they would surely receive a lot of backlash and criticism because of how relevant this issue is to both sides of the political spectrum. And so, I think there won't be any usage of checks and balances to pushback against the passing of the bill like Lorenzo alluded to. Furthermore, this bill is said to “move prosecution decisions of sexual assault and harassment cases out of the military chain of command,” which prevents potential abuses of power within the military chain of command. As such, the bill will provide the opportunity for a safe environment for individuals to file a report against the aggressor, even if they were a superior.
I think this bill was a great start for equality and equal protection/rights, especially considering Vanessa was a minority. I think the other issues that should be addresses in our country is equality for all races, not just white people. With the black lives matter movement now in the spotlight, I think that more attention should be focused on that, as many minorities (mainly African Americans) are being killed everyday due to police brutality. I think police need to be trained better, and better educated on how to react to certain things and people. This bill really helps out a ton of women in the military who experience assault in their stations, and are too scared to speak up due to the outcome of things. I think this bill puts the blame on the right people, and charge the guilty with the inhumane actions they do. I think this bill has made women feel safer, and more comfortable to speak up about matters like this, and also sends a message that it is not okay to treat women like that.
The link to the bill you provided is to a Senate bill introduced in 2019 that apparently didn't go far in the Senate. This House bill might be very similar as that would increase it's chance of passing before the end of the year. Note that Jackie Speier (the House Rep for the district including San Mateo, she lives in the neighborhood near Aragon) introduced this bill in the House.
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