Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05) delivered the following prepared remarks to a gathering of the National Network to End Domestic Violence in DC:

I want to begin by giving a special thanks to the National Network to End Domestic Violence –

And all the tireless coalition partners working together to improve VAWA, pass VAWA, and most importantly protect the thousands of victims across this country.

The fight against domestic violence is one that is near and dear to my heart.

Back when I worked as Cook County Commissioner in Chicago, one of my first priorities was the construction of a brand new, separate Domestic Violence Court House.

A court house where victims could seek justice without fear of running into their abusers and where they could feel safe and secure.

And I am proud to say that today that Domestic Violence Court House stands at 555 West Harrison, and serves thousands of victims each year.

But my interest in ending domestic violence has even earlier roots.

One of my first jobs was at a domestic violence shelter in Chicago.  

Rep. Mike Quigley (center) speaks with Brandon Jones and Vickie Smith from the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence before addressing The National Network to End Domestic Violence.

I was 17, and I came from a quite suburb, where I had never been exposed to violence.

Suddenly I was thrown into this shelter with people from all walks of life, all income levels, and all backgrounds, where I was faced with the realities of violence every day.

I will never forget waking up one night to the sound of an angry man, who had somehow broken into the shelter, banging on the door of his girlfriend’s room demanding that she let him in.

When I stepped out into the hall, he wasn’t expecting to see me, and turned and ran as fast as he could.

Sadly, thousands of victims around the country don’t have anyone looking out for them and will never make it to a shelter to escape their abuse.

Small as it may seem, what I learned at that shelter has applications to the larger battle against violence we continue to fight today.

I came to that shelter a naïve young man, and left with my eyes opened to the fact that violence happens everywhere and in every community.

Even my quite suburb I had thought was so safe.

It took seeing those victims, their families, their pain, their fear and their recoveries for my views on domestic violence to mature and evolve.

And just as my once uneducated view of violence evolved in the face of the truth, so too has the view of the Congress,

Thanks to the truths told by many of the folks in this room.

The very first VAWA was authorized when advocates came to policymakers and said: We have to change the way we are treating domestic violence.

We can stop it, but we need help.

And each year VAWA has been reauthorized, we have gone back to the drawing board with new information and new realizations, and expanded protections for victims.

Now policymakers are being asked to open their eyes once again to forms of violence that have previously been dismissed:

We need protections for immigrant victims, who given their status are particularly vulnerable.

We need protections for Native Women, who suffer from extreme rates of abuse.

And we need explicit protections for LGBT victims who are underserved and face serious discrimination.

The expansion of these protections is a continuation of the evolution of our understanding and acknowledgment of domestic violence in all its forms.

Too many Members of Congress are living in the quite suburb where I grew up.

The violence is all around them, but they don’t see it.

We have to open their eyes to it.

The Senate-passed VAWA provides these expanded protections,

And I can promise you that I, and many of my colleagues in the House, will not stop fighting until a comprehensive VAWA reaches the President’s desk.

Clearly it is thanks to the doggedness, expertise, and passion of the people in this room that we have gotten this far.

And I have no doubt it will be due to the perseverance and dedication of everyone here today that will see VAWA cross the finish line.

So I will just conclude by saying: Thank you.

Thank you for opening my eyes.

Thank you for opening the eyes of Members who still cling to those quite suburbs where no one talks about the violence all around them.

And thank you for continuing to speak the truth and to advance the evolution of our society’s understanding of domestic violence and how to stop it.

Because we couldn’t do our jobs without you.

I look forward to passing a comprehensive VAWA before the end of this year, and taking one more step toward ending domestic violence once and for all.

###