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North Carolina: no protections for same-sex domestic violence victims
Source: The Guardian
North Carolina: no protections for same-sex domestic violence victims
The state’s statute regarding domestic violence only applies to those whose abusers are ‘of the opposite sex’
Alexandra Villarreal
Wed 6 Feb 2019 11.00 GMT
When Sherry Honeycutt Everett was a litigator in North Carolina, she watched her clients’ faces change as she told them that the laws would protect them less because of their sexual orientation.
She was speaking to domestic violence victims, but because they were in same-sex dating relationships, they were not entitled to the protective orders they felt they needed to stay safe. That’s because when it comes to dating relationships, Chapter 50B – North Carolina’s statute regarding domestic violence – only applies to people whose abusers are “persons of the opposite sex”.
“Time and time again, it was completely heartbreaking to have the conversation with a person sitting right in front of me and saying, ‘The laws of North Carolina do not include you’,” Honeycutt Everett said.
North Carolina is the last state in the union to take a domestic violence victim’s sexual orientation into account when considering whether he or she can access a protective order. During what advocates called a “sea of change” in the last decade, other states whose laws differentiated between LGBTQ domestic violence victims and others have addressed those differences either in court or through legislation.
As the current legal and policy director for the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCCADV), Honeycutt Everett reached out to agencies around the state late least year to inform the coalition’s legislative agenda for 2019. When advocates responded, the most frequently identified issue they listed was the exclusionary language in Chapter 50B.
-snip-
The state’s statute regarding domestic violence only applies to those whose abusers are ‘of the opposite sex’
Alexandra Villarreal
Wed 6 Feb 2019 11.00 GMT
When Sherry Honeycutt Everett was a litigator in North Carolina, she watched her clients’ faces change as she told them that the laws would protect them less because of their sexual orientation.
She was speaking to domestic violence victims, but because they were in same-sex dating relationships, they were not entitled to the protective orders they felt they needed to stay safe. That’s because when it comes to dating relationships, Chapter 50B – North Carolina’s statute regarding domestic violence – only applies to people whose abusers are “persons of the opposite sex”.
“Time and time again, it was completely heartbreaking to have the conversation with a person sitting right in front of me and saying, ‘The laws of North Carolina do not include you’,” Honeycutt Everett said.
North Carolina is the last state in the union to take a domestic violence victim’s sexual orientation into account when considering whether he or she can access a protective order. During what advocates called a “sea of change” in the last decade, other states whose laws differentiated between LGBTQ domestic violence victims and others have addressed those differences either in court or through legislation.
As the current legal and policy director for the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCCADV), Honeycutt Everett reached out to agencies around the state late least year to inform the coalition’s legislative agenda for 2019. When advocates responded, the most frequently identified issue they listed was the exclusionary language in Chapter 50B.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/06/north-carolina-same-sex-domestic-violence-laws
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