Good news for men in California

Victory for Men’s Equal Rights!
October 14, 2008
By NCFM
For Immediate Release
Victory for Men’s Equal Rights!
CA Appellate Court Says Excluding men from domestic violence programs is unconstitutional

Contact: Marc E. Angelucci, Esq.
Men’s Legal Center
619-234-3838
626-319-3081
marc@menslegal.com

SAN DIEGO, CA – 10/14/08 – Today the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento ruled California’s exclusion of men from domestic violence violates men’s constitutional equal protection rights. Woods. v. Shewry; 3rd Dist. C056072
Court Info

The taxpayer lawsuit was initially filed in 2005 by four male victims of domestic violence. In 2007, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Lloyd Connelly dismissed the case, ruling that men are not entitled to equal protection regarding domestic violence because they statistically are not similarly situated with women.

Today the Court of Appeal reversed that decision and held: ‘The gender classifications in Health and Safety Code section 124250 and Penal Code section 13823.15, that provide state funding of domestic violence programs that offer services only to women and their children, but not to men, violate equal protection.’

Harry Crouch, a San Diego child custody coach and President of the National Coalition of Free Men (NCFM), a men’s rights organization that filed and backed the plaintiffs, said: “All victims need services regardless of gender. Services should be need-based, not gender-based. This decision can profoundly affect on the equal treatment of victims.”

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Marc E. Angelucci of the Men’s Legal Center in San Diego and founder of NCFM’s Los Angeles chapter, called this a victory for men’s equal rights, particularly male domestic violence victims and inmate fathers. He said: “We’ve been through the daisy wheel of judicial activism on this issue. Now the courts have finally addressed the injustice, but the struggle is not over. Many taxpayer-funded programs, especially in Los Angeles, still deny men services such as counseling, advocacy, shelter or hotel vouchers, which is endangering their children. Men pay at least half of the taxes that fund these programs and they should be entitled to services regardless of sex. I have seen the damage this does to men and kids and I will never stop fighting to end it, even if it means filing more lawsuits.”

Numerous experts submitted sworn declarations supporting the plaintiffs and explaining that this is a serious but hidden problem in which children are being emotionally harmed as witnesses of the violence while their dads get no help. Experts explained that although men report it less than women, empirical survey data consistently shows women are at least as violent as men in relationships and men suffer one-third of injuries. One expert, California State Long Beach Professor Martin Fiebert, summarizes over 200 of the studies in an online bibliography:
Source

In the early 1970s, federally-funded research by Professors Murray Straus, Suzanne Steinmetz and Richard Gelles found women are as violent as men in relationships. As a result, all three researchers received death threats by those who saw the findings as a threat to the “patriarchy” theory of domestic violence. See Prof. Linda Kelly, ‘Disabusing the Definition of Domestic Abuse,’ 30 Florida State Law Review 791 (2003)
Source

Today over 200 studies – and growing – confirm the same findings using various methodologies. Further research into context and motives found self-defense did not explain away the female violence. See, Prof. Don Dutton, ‘Transforming a flawed policy: A call to revive psychology and science in domestic violence research and practice,’ Aggression and Violent Behavior, (11) 2006, 457-483
Source

Additional sources on male DV victims:

Harvard Medical School:click here

University of New Hampshire:
click here

Canadian Government Report:click here

Article source:click here