A White House panel on domestic
violence hosted by Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett included Sharon
Stapel of the Anti-Violence
Project (AVP).
The panel was part of the
administration's ongoing Champions of Change program created as a
part of President Obama's Winning the Future initiative. Each week,
a different issue is highlighted and leaders are recognized for their
work in the field.
The 31-year-old New York City-based AVP
is the country's largest organization dedicated to eliminating hate
violence, sexual violence and domestic/intimate partner violence
affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-affected
people.
During Thursday's panel, Stapel said
gay people face domestic violence at the same rates as other groups
plus discrimination outside the home.
“LGBT people have very few safe
places in this country. We face almost daily discrimination bias and
lawful discrimination against ourselves and our communities because
of who we are and who we love. And in the midst of that we also
experience intimate partner violence at the same rates that every
other community experiences,” Stapel said. (The audio is embedded
in the right panel of this page.)
(Related: Obama
honors gay rights advocate Janice Langbehn with Citizens Medal.)