Epstein’s Bestie…
Is Crippling Domestic & Sexual Violence Programs
For the tens of millions of women and men in this country who are survivors of abuse at the hands of a partner, it comes as no surprise to see the Trump administration aggressively dismantling supports for violence prevention and protection. We knew we were in trouble when, as Jasmine Mithani and Mel Leonor Barclay of The 19th put it, “The first budget recommendation proposed by the administration of a man found liable for sexual abuse suggest[ed] eliminating the team tackling rape prevention and education.”
Surprised or not, it’s time to take a deep breath to absorb the scope of Trump’s destruction.
Some Background
Three decades ago, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which recognized the systemic nature of abuse in intimate relationships and provided funding for victim support services, police training, and community prevention programs. This landmark bill made it possible to establish and build the infrastructure for rape crisis centers, victim hotlines, and domestic abuse centers that exist today. Beyond those central initiatives, VAWA provides housing protections for victims of marital violence, dating violence, stalking, and sexual assault. It further takes into consideration abuses that occur in homes where only one spouse is an American citizen.
In the years since its 1994 passage, VAWA has been reauthorized with bipartisan support. In 2013, the bill was expanded and reauthorized, incorporating protection for victims of sex trafficking for the first time. It also used language that made it explicitly clear that the law held for victims regardless of “actual or perceived gender identity or sexual orientation, as well as race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or disability.”
While ultimately passing, some religious groups spoke out in opposition to including protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation, arguing that those provisions violated their religious rights (to freely hate others). They said the bill infringed upon their hierarchical headship structures. Headship is the belief that God holds authority over men…and men hold authority over women.
In 2022, a new LGBT Specific Services Program was established under VAWA, creating outreach and training programs to effectively assist abuse victims in those communities. That signed measure felt like real American progress.
But THEN came the rollout of Trump 2.0 policies, largely attributable to the Heritage Foundation, a far-right think tank heavily rooted in White Evangelical Christian ideology and White Nationalist dogma. Suddenly, religious extremists had the power to pounce!
If you take just one thing from this piece, please let it be this: While the rigidity of headship, in practice, varies from church to church and family to family…The far-right factions behind The Heritage Foundation want to establish White Evangelical “family values,” including headship hierarchies, as the new American norm. By empowering women, VAWA runs counter to those objectives. In fact, some denominations within Christian fundamentalism don’t even believe domestic violence can exist within families where men have full dominion over their wives. They believe their dissent to be Biblical. But it just as likely stems from this: Laws like VAWA can be seen as emasculating to small, angry men who enjoy pummeling and raping their wives!
Elimination of Violence Prevention Funding
Project 2025, a brainchild of The Heritage Foundation and a roadmap to end American Democracy, is being used to rapidly reshape our government. For example, in keeping with Project 2025’s anti-DEI goals, the administration has banned inclusive words and rewritten grant rules. As a result, many federally funded programs have been weakened, including programs intended to protect people from physical and sexual abuse. By forcing grant applicants to narrowly define gender and abide by the government’s new anti-diversity guidelines, violence prevention organizations are struggling to secure federal funding. Without these resources, we can expect fewer shelters, fewer advocates, fewer rape examinations, fewer hotline representatives, fewer pathways for victims to get the help they deserve.
A glimmer of hope: Seventeen anti-violence coalitions filed a lawsuit last month, seeking to reverse Trump’s grant restrictions. Lawyers, on behalf of their clients, wrote, “Holding back their funding in the name of a racist, xenophobic, transphobic agenda is unacceptable.”
Abortion Bans
Abortion bans (some partial, some complete) are now in place across 41 states, with whispers of a national ban. Pregnancy complicates a victim’s escape route, and the far-right’s hostility toward reproductive care is creating dangerous barriers for the most vulnerable women.
Guns - The Abuser’s Weapon of Choice
As I’m writing, the Trump administration is considering a rule change that could result in the restoration of gun rights to convicted domestic abusers. My god!
This move would be a “death sentence for women across the country.”
-Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords
In May, 34 Democratic Women’s Caucus Members submitted a letter to Pam Bondi and Robert Hinchman, criticizing the possibility of that change taking effect. They wrote, “Approximately 4.5 million women alive today have been threatened by an intimate partner with a firearm, almost 1 million women alive today have been shot or shot at!”
In Summary
While VAWA still stands, its ability to functionally uphold its foundational goals is in question. Trump’s Project 2025-driven policies are straining organizations that rely on funding under the Office of Violence Against Women (OVM). And roadblocks to violence prevention and protection, like the ones mentioned here, aren’t glitches. They’re part of the far-right’s cruel, dystopian vision for America!
If you’re suffering at the hands of an intimate partner, you’re not alone! Find help at:
Call to Action
Send personal testimonies opposing the restoration of gun rights to convicted domestic abusers to Attorney General Pam Bondi here!
Follow independent reporting on gender policy, like The 19th
Advocate for victims’ rights and sensible gun laws:
Donate to support violence prevention and advocacy:
