Florida NOW

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ten years ago, President Obama signed the first significant pro-lesbian, pro-woman, pro-disability rights legislation, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, named for two victims of horrific hate crimes that shocked the nation. 

That legislation has made an enormous difference in the last decade, but there’s more to be done. We’re still seeing scores more reported instances of intolerance, hatred and violence against LGBTQIA+ individuals that add to the nation’s shock—and shame.  Now, our country has the chance to recommit our determination to ensure enforcement of gender-based hate crimes under federal law. We must also act decisively to protect religious minorities, immigrants and other targets of the rising tide of White Nationalism in the U.S. 

NOW calls on Congress to pass the bipartisan Jabara-Heyer National Opposition to Hate, Assault, and Threats to Equality (NO HATE) Act of 2019, which vastly improves federal reporting of hate crimes and helps strengthen police responses to incidents of hate, among other provisions. We are also encouraging our hundreds of thousands of members and supporters to ask their representatives to co-sponsor this important legislation. 

Khalid Jabara was gunned down in a hate crime in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Heather Heyer was killed in Charlottesville when a racist drove his car into a crowd of people. 

Hate crimes are more than violent assaults on innocent individuals—they are designed to frighten, alienate and disenfranchise entire communities.   

We are all Matthew Shepard. We are all James Byrd, Jr. We are all Khalid Jabara. We are all Heather Heyer.  And we demand justice. 

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The NFL has once again proven where its priorities lie: with profits, not people.  

When Cleveland Brown’s defensive end Myles Garrett rips off an opposing quarterback’s helmet and hits him with it during a nationally televised game, he immediately gets suspended for the rest of the season. Fox Commentator Joe Buck called the incident “one of the worst things I’ve ever seen on a professional sports field.” 

But, what if the violent, out of control player is off the field, and the person impacted is someone not on the NFL’s payroll? If a player is charged with domestic violence or sexual assault, team owners and NFL leadership drag their feet, put up smokescreens and spend a fortune on PR campaigns to avoid dealing with the league’s endemic domestic violence problem.  

We’ve seen player after player accused of violence against women allowed to return to the playing field, while nothing is done to help survivors, or to change the NFL’s culture of domestic violence. 

NOW calls on the NFL to correct this double standard. When violence against women is treated with less concern than a player’s swing of a helmet, there’s something deeply wrong with the NFL—and women know it. 

Football was once called America’s game—but it’s rapidly become America’s shame. Enough is enough. 

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745

Statement by Chair of NOW PAC Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Organization for Women Political Action Committee (NOW PAC) has analyzed the more than 400 questions asked of the Democratic presidential candidates during the four primary debates held since June. 

The fifth debate on November 20 will for the first moderated entirely by women—Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell and Kristen Welker of NBC, and Ashley Parker of the Washington Post.  NOW PAC is calling on the moderators to ask the candidates the questions that have been missing from the conversation so far on issues that disproportionately affect women. For example: 

• There have been 21 questions about education, but zero about sexual assault on campus.   
• There have been zero questions about sexual harassment and the #MeToo era, and zero questions about violence against immigrant women. 
• While gun control has been a hot topic, gender-based gun violence has been ignored.   
• The debates have been dominated by questions about health care, but zero questions on other important issues facing women and families, including childcare, universal preschool and paid family leave.  

NOW PAC submitted details of our analysis to the debate moderators, as well as a “Decisive Dozen” suggested questions that are not “niche issues” or “identity politics,” but urgent topics that are on the minds of millions of Americans.   

We also support the nationwide #AskThemMore campaign about the issues that face women and their families and launched a social media campaign to encourage the moderators to ask the candidates about these concerns.

Our message to the moderators: Get the candidates on the record on the issues that women and families live with, worry about, and have to overcome each and every day. 

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745