Men's Group Challenges Minnesota Battered Women's Act for Denying Battered Men Equal Protection and Support

9/12/2002

From: Dick Elfenbein, 201-836-8787, e-mail: elfenbein@aol.com or the National Coalition of Free Men, 888-223-1280

ADVANCE for release Monday, September 16

/ADVANCE/ NEW YORK, Sept. 16 -- Should all victims of domestic violence, get the same governmental help and protection, regardless of gender?

The National Coalition of Free Men (NCFM) says "yes," and has moved to support a Minnesota suit pending before the Eighth District United States Court of Appeals declaring that state's "Battered Women's Act" does not provide equal protection and benefits for men and is therefore unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment, the "Equal Protection" Clause. That federal act states that, "No state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The amendment has been successfully employed to protect against discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, poverty, mental retardation, and sexual orientation.

The NCFM notes research by Martin Fiebert of California State University, based on 117 studies, which indicates that 38 per cent of victims in battering cases are men. It also notes that Betty Friedan, a founder of the feminist movement, had reported, "Women are doing the battering as much or more than men."

Plaintiffs in the Minnesota lawsuit, taxpayers in that state, claim the right to be heard since their tax dollars are being spent to finance provisions of the Act. The National Coalition of Free Men on the web at (http://www.ncfm.org) founded in 1977 is a nationwide organization with chapters in, New York, the West Coast, Mid-West, Texas and Washington, D.C.