On House floor, Dem lawmaker recounts being raped, molested

Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) on Wednesday afternoon recounted her experience being sexually abused as a child and then raped as a young woman.

“Violence against women is as American as apple pie,” she said on the House floor. “I know, not only as a legislator, but from personal experience.

“Domestic violence has been a thread throughout my personal life, up to and including being a child repeatedly sexually assaulted, up to and including, being an adult who’s been raped. I just don’t have enough time to share all these experiences with you.”

Watch Moore’s House speech.

She did say, however, that the lack of support for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in the House Judiciary Committee in years past “really brought up some terrible memories for me.

{mosads}”Of having boys sit in a locker room and sort of bet that I, the egg-head, couldn’t be had,” she continued. “And then the appointed boy, when he saw that I wasn’t going to be so willing, completed a date-rape and then took my underwear to display it to the rest of the boys.

“I mean, this is what American women are facing.”

Moore spoke along with other Democrats who were looking to turn away the House Republican budget proposal and turn to a bill reauthorizing VAWA, which expires this year. Attempts to turn the House majority away from the bill they prefer always fail, and while Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.) offered words of sympathy to Moore, he said he has a “tough time” connecting the GOP budget to VAWA.

Woodall, a member of the Rules Committee, did say that he would support efforts to reauthorize VAWA, something that is expected to enjoy significant bipartisan support.

“You have my support on the Rules Committee,” Woodall said. “If we can get that bill reported out of Judiciary, I’d love to see that in the Rules Committee, and would love to see us report that to the House floor.”