Salud Carbajal Dismisses Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill Of Rights As Merely “Symbolic”
At last night’s KEYT/KCOY debate, in a shocking display of cynicism and ignorance, Salud Carbajal called H.R.5578, the Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act of 2016 a “symbolic” bill and dismissed the legitimacy of this bipartisan legislation that unanimously passed the House, Senate, and has been signed into law by President Barack Obama.
The Survivors’ Bill of Rights was inspired by Amanda Nguyen, a rape survivor who helped raise awareness of major backlogs and bureaucratic hurdles that sexual assault survivors must contend with as they seek justice.
H.R. 5578 was introduced by Rep. Mimi Walters (R-CA) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and received immense bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. After unanimous passage of the bill Lofgren said, “Today’s vote to pass the Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act means we are one step closer to ensuring victims of sexual assault have meaningful access to justice. But it is also a testament to the strong women who refused to be victims, who walked into my office just four months ago with an idea to improve the lives of millions of survivors, shared their stories with the world, and today watched the passage of their bill on the House floor. They are the real difference-makers, and they are an inspiration to me.”