While intimate partner violence doesn’t care about your sexuality or gender, the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives does. In a butchered substitute of the Senate-backed Violence Against Women Act, GOP leaders have removed provisions that could help extend resources to LGBTQ individuals. In fact, the subject of intimate partner violence among LGBTQ couples has been erased from their substitute bill.

An optimist might call it wishful thinking – that if we don’t talk about LGBTQ problems, maybe they’ll just go away. But to me, not being left out, but intentionally removed from one of the most influential pieces of legislation fighting violence sends a far different message. In stripping protections for people like me the Republican leadership has told me that I am not really a person. I’m not “a concern.” It shows me that the elected officials who are in Washington to argue on my behalf do not care about my safety, or even my life.

Very soon, the House of Representatives will vote on the House substitute to the Violence Against Women Act. Only if the substitute FAILS will the bipartisan bill as passed by the Senate be brought to the floor. The inclusive Senate bill not only includes protections for fellow members of the LGBTQ community, but also includes provisions for students, Native Americans, and immigrants. It is imperative that the House pass the inclusive, bipartisan Senate bill and not a gutted alternative. I urge the members of the House – as a voter, as an activist, as a woman, as a human being – to do the right thing and pass a VAWA that can protect all victims of violence. No one should be left to suffer when there is a way to help.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender pride flag flying outside a government building from Shutterstock

 Attending receptions and even just walking down the halls of the Capitol and the office buildings seeing so many women Senators and House Members was electrifying.   There is nothing to compare with saying “Congratulations Senator Baldwin…Senator Heitkamp…Senator Hirono… Senator Warren…”  And to see Congresswomen Carol Shea Porter and Dina Titus return after losing their seats in the 2010 madness was a bonus.

If all of this wasn’t enough, special friends Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were there to celebrate the newly elected women and had special words for our own Ellie Smeal.

Hope you enjoy our pictures of this historic day and here’s to moving the bar even further with more women in 2014.

Norma Gattsek is the Director of Government Relations at the Feminist Majority.

Many of the tax cuts being held hostage disproportionately affect young, single women. Students are also especially impacted. Tax deductions for college tuition will be decreased by 22%.

Take action now to make sure this doesn’t happen!

Even worse, in order to keep the tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent, House Republicans propose slashing federal programs such as Medicaid and Medicare and raising the age for Social Security eligibility.

Existing tax rates for most Americans are being held hostage so that the richest among us don’t have to pay their share. Stand up for the 98% today!

Right now, Warren Buffett’s secretary pays taxes at a higher rate than he does.

We need tax cuts for the 98% not to be held hostage by the super rich. We don’t need to balance the federal budget on the backs of those who can least afford it. The wealthy do need to contribute their fair share. Join us and email your Representative now!

In the presidential race, 60 percent of voters 18-29 years old voted for President Obama while only 44 percent of those over 65 did, creating a 16 percent age gap. In key Senate races the pattern persisted. For example, in Indiana, 18-29-year-olds were nearly 20 percent of the electorate compared to 14 percent for the over 65 group; the young voters supported the Democrat, Joe Donnelly, over Republican Richard Mourdock (infamous for his comment that “god intended” pregnancy from rape) by 53 percent and the older voters by 43, creating a 10 percent age gap. The age gap was even larger in Missouri for incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill (D) against challenger Todd Akin (R) of “legitimate rape” fame. McCaskill had the support of 69 percent of the young voters and only 41 percent of the voters over 65 years for a whopping 28 percent age gap. In Ohio, the voters ages 18-24 were 17 percent of the electorate and voters over 65 were 18 percent. The young voters supported incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown (D) by 64 percent while only 46 percent of the older voters supported Brown, an 18 percent gap. An almost identical pattern existed in Pennsylvania’s Senate race, where incumbent Senator Bob Casey (D) defeated challenger Tom Smith (R).

The age gap on marriage equality ballot measures in four states is more like an Age Canyon. Massive age gaps emerged in exits polls in all four states with two-thirds of voters 18-29 voting in favor of marriage equality and only one-third of voters over 65 doing so. The breakdown of the age gap in each state was:

• Maine: 68 percent of voters 18-29 years of age voted for same-sex marriage and only 44 percent of the over 65 were, for a 24 percent age gap.
• Washington: 65 percent of voters 18-29 years of age voted for same-sex marriage and only 39 percent over 65 voters did for a 26 percent age gap.
• Maryland: 70 percent of voters 18-29 years of age voted for same-sex marriage and only 36 percent of over 65 voters did, for a 34 percent gender gap.
• Minnesota: 67 percent of voters 18-29 years of age and only 36 percent of the over 65 group voted no on the state constitutional amendment to only recognize marriages between one man and one woman, making a 31 percent age gap.

The age gaps were massive and indicate a tremendous cultural change being driven by younger voters. In each of the four states, voters under 40 were overwhelmingly in favor of the equal marriage position while those over 40 were not. There were also significant gender gaps in all four states with women voting in favor of marriage equality and men rejecting it.

Women’s votes, according to state exit polls, determined the historic outcome of the 2012 marriage equality ballot measures. Same-sex marriage was approved for the first time by general election votes in three states: Maine, Maryland and Washington state. In Minnesota, voters struck down a proposed state constitutional amendment “to recognize marriage only between one man and one woman.”

Decisive and large gender gaps emerged in exits polls in all four states with women voting in solid majorities in favor of marriage equality and men opposing, albeit with weaker majorities. If only men had voted, marriage equality would have been defeated in all four states.

The breakdown of the gender gap in each state was:

• Maine: 61 percent of women voted for same-sex marriage and only 47 percent of men did, for a whopping 14 percent gender gap.
• Washington: 57 percent of women voted for same-sex marriage and only 49 percent of men did, creating an 8 percent gender gap.
• Maryland: 55 percent of women voted for same-sex marriage and only 48 percent of men did so, for a 7 percent gender gap.
• Minnesota: 56 percent of women and only 46 percent of men voted no on the state constitutional amendment to only recognize marriages between one man and one woman, making a 10 percent gender gap.

These trends in voting and attitudes on issues have been apparent since the 1970s and are increasingly becoming more visible, larger, and decisively impactful. Gender gaps exist on a whole host of issues, including equality, abortion, family planning, social security, Medicaid, Medicare and environmental issues. Women, on average, typically favor programs to further equality, provide health care and protect the environment more than men.

President Barack Obama won reelection with 55 percent of women’s votes and 45 percent of men’s votes for a decisive and historic 10 percent gender gap, according to the exit polls. This is the second largest gender gap in presidential voting recorded by the CNN exit polls, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. The largest was in 1996 for Bill Clinton (PDF). If only men had voted, Mitt Romney would have won the presidency 52 percent to 44 percent.

Very large gender gaps determined the outcome of many individual Senate races and also elected the Senate Democratic majority itself. Some of the key Senate races where the gender gap made an impact are:

• Chris Murphy (D-CT) defeated Linda McMahon (R), despite her spending tens of million of dollars with an 11 percent gender gap, with 60 percent of women’s votes to 49 percent of men’s votes;
• Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) won with a 12 percent gender gap, with 59 percent of women’s votes and only 47 percent of men’s votes;
• Martin Heinrich (D-NM) won with a 6 percent gender gap, with 54 percent of women’s votes and 48 percent of men’s votes;
• Sherrod Brown (D-OH) won with an 8 percent gender gap, with 56 percent of women’s votes and 48 percent of men’s votes;
• Bob Casey (D-PA) won with a 9 percent gender gap, with 58 percent of women’s votes and 49 percent of men’s votes; and
• Tim Kaine (D-VA) won with a 7 percent gender gap, with 56 percent of women’s votes and 49 percent of men’s votes.

If only men had voted in each of these races, according to exit polls, the Republican candidate would have won and the Senate majority would be Republican.

The Romney/Ryan ticket’s extreme views on women’s issues built the gender gap. The Republican ticket was blatantly against abortion and family planning access and specifically targeted Planned Parenthood. An obvious lack of support for equal pay and the Ryan budget, which voucherized Medicare, also alienated women.

Romney and Ryan had plenty of help from members of their party in creating the gender gap. Republicans in Congress have time and time again fought against women’s rights and, to top it off, Republican Senatorial Candidates openly demeaned women when they made ignorant and offensive comments regarding rape.

Moreover, in 2011 and 2012, Republican-controlled state legislatures introduced over 1100 legislative measures aimed at restricting women’s reproductive rights. By the Guttmacher Institute’s count, over 135 of these state measures became law in 2011. Of these, 92 were abortion restrictions in 24 states. The rest slashed family planning funding or created unnecessary and debilitating regulations targeting women’s health clinics that provide family planning and/or abortion services, especially Planned Parenthood. By the summer of 2012 another 35 state-level measures attacking reproductive rights were passed.

At the federal level, Republicans in Congress have repeatedly fought against women’s rights by attempting to restrict access to abortion and birth control, opposing equal pay legislation, advocating for privatization of Medicare, attempting to slash Medicaid funding and attempting to weaken the Violence Against Women Act by cutting back protections for students, immigrant women and Native American women.

In the past two sessions, the Republican-controlled House has repeatedly passed hostile and outrageous abortion rights legislation that would have eliminated all family planning funding and specifically targeted Planned Parenthood. The most outrageous of this legislation was the so-called “Let Her Die” bill. This legislation aimed to allow hospitals that “morally object” to deny a woman an abortion even if her life is at risk — even if she is hemorrhaging in an emergency room from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.

In this atmosphere, no wonder two Senate seats were lost on outrageous rape statements made by candidates. In fact, one of these candidates led the fight for an anti-abortion law with no-rape exception with his Republican colleagues, including Paul Ryan.

The Republican War on Women is not just a slogan. Unless a reset button is pushed by the Republican Party, the gender gap will continue to grow and Republican candidates will continue to pay the cost.

Hey #UnfitMitt, it’s time to #DropMourdock! Your endorsement of him is an endorsement of his horrific views on rape bit.ly/UDFiVJ — Feminist Majority (@FemMajority) October 24, 2012

It’s true, #UnfitMitt is still endorsing Mourdock after his horrifying views on rape were exposed. #DropMourdock bit.ly/UDFiVJ — Feminist Majority (@FemMajority) October 24, 2012

“In Romney’s world, the cars get the elevator and the workers get the shaft!”