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Nearly a third of the female employees of the US Mint in Denver filed a class-action complaint with the US Treasury Department in early June alleging years of sexual harassment and discrimination. The group of 32 women argue that they have endured a hostile work environment for years, with male colleagues refusing to remove picture of naked women from the office walls and lockers, propositioning the women for sex, and passing offensive sexual emails around the office, according to Rocky Mountain News.

Female employees at the Mint have for years sought action from supervisors and union officials to no avail. One woman received a restraining order against a supervisor who had physically assaulted her, but the order, issued by the City and County of Denver, had no authority at the Mint, which is on federal property, the Denver Post reports. Other women report facing repercussions when they report a co-worker’s behavior. Phyllis Soto, an accounting technician who has worked at the Mint for 12 years, told the Scripps-McClatchy that the official policy of “zero tolerance” for sexual harassment ends up being more like “zero tolerance for the victims.” Attorney Marisa Williams, representing several of the women, said that women at the Mint are afraid to come forward with complaints because co-workers and supervisors at the Mint “make life hell for them if they do,” according to the Rocky Mountain News.

Female supervisors also report that male employees bypass them in favor of male supervisors, and that women are not allowed to attend certain meetings, according to the News. “They break you down. The women say it’s not worth going home feeling that way every day. And management says, ‘She couldn’t handle the job. It’s her – see, she couldn’t do that job’,” Soto told the News. The women are awaiting certification for their complaint by an administration judge in Washington, DC.

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An investigation by the Denver Post found that Air Force Academy brass and board members failed to act aggressively to protect female cadets from a pattern of sexual assault over the past 20 years. The leadership, which has included members of Congress and some of the most respected military personnel in the country, was first told of the assaults in 1983 but did not aggressively investigate the problem of sexual misconduct, focusing instead on the routine business of the academy and on maintaining its reputation, according to the Post.

The Post’s review of meeting minutes and reports by the Board of Visitors from the past 25 years, along with interviews with current and former board members, staff members, and former cadets, show that lack of commitment and the brass’s urge to protect the image of the Academy prevented board members from genuinely addressing the problem. Members of the board felt they lacked authority to exercise aggressive oversight of the Academy and didn’t want to antagonize the staff. Many of them never even attended a board meeting. Academy brass also failed to disclose to the board the real extent and number of the assaults, the Post reports.

Other studies, recently released under the Freedom of Information Act, show that the Air Force Academy has been a hostile environment for women ever since they arrived on campus in 1976. But before this year, when allegations of sexual assault were widely reported in the press, all the board’s annual reports to the President were positive, never mentioning rape or sexual assault or calling for any investigation, according to the Associated Press.

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Just days after strong opposition from progressive, feminist, and labor groups forced House Republican leaders to drop the so-called Family Time Flexibility Act (HR 1119), the Bush administration renewed its efforts to alter the Fair Labor Standards Act. While the proposed Department of Labor rule change secures overtime pay for 1.3 million more low-wage workers by raising the salary limit from $8,060 to $22,100 per year, it reclassifies over 640,000 white-collar workers “holding a position of responsibility” in various industries-including aerospace, defense, health care, police, hospital, retail, and high tech-exempting them from time-and-a-half overtime wages (beyond the normal 40 hour work week), according to the National Organization for Women and the Los Angeles Times. Under the proposal, employers would have complete discretion to work these employees almost unlimited hours with lost income and reduced flexibility. The public comment period for the Department of Labor rule change ends June 30.

Meanwhile, House Republicans have pledged to bring the so-called Family Time Flexibility Act up again. Opposition groups including NOW and the AFL-CIO say they will continue to oppose proposals that are harmful to millions of working families.

TAKE ACTION Tell the Department of Labor you oppose this deceptive proposal to cheat millions of workers out of overtime pay.

Also, Urge Congress to oppose the not-so-family-friendly “Family Time Flexibility Act.”

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John Allen Burt, a long-time Pensacola, FL anti-abortion extremist, was arrested yesterday. A six-day search for him began last Thursday based on charges of sexual misconduct asserted by two teenage girls who were living at Our Father’s House, Burt’s so-called home for “unwed mothers,” according to the Pensacola News Journal.

Local police authorities told the News Journal that they had investigated similar allegations in the past but this was the first time enough evidence had been collected to arrest Burt. A spokesperson for the Santa Rosa County sheriff’s office told the Sarasota Herald Tribune that investigators were seeking others potential victims.

Our Father’s House, run by Burt, is not regulated by the state. According to WEAR in Pensacola, it is accredited and inspected by the Florida Association of Christian Childcare Agencies, Inc. They also reported that based on past complaints, Burt was told he could not live in the home with the girls and could not be alone with any of the girls. It was not reported how these restrictions on Burt’s activity at the shelter were monitored or enforced by the association.

John Burt has a long history of connections to violence against abortion clinics in the Pensacola area. He has been arrested numerous times for his participation disruptive protests and clinic invasions. A 1986 invasion led by Burt was the impetus for the NOW v. Scheidler case. Burt led protests in Pensacola on behalf of two couples that bombed three local clinics on Christmas Day in 1984, according to the Sarasota Herald Tribune. Burt was outside the Pensacola clinic when an Our Father’s House volunteer, Michael Griffin, murdered Dr. David Gunn in 1993. Griffin’s family later claimed that John Burt had manipulated Griffin. Burt is also an associate of Paul Hill who murdered Dr. Bayard Britton and volunteer escort James Barrett outside another local Pensacola clinic in 1994. Burt is on film helping Paul Hill identify Dr. Britton outside the clinic in the weeks before Hill shot and killed Dr. Britton and his clinic escort.

US Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY14), Louise Slaughter (D-NY28) and Brad Sherman (D-CA27) joined together today to announce a new federal bill that would eliminate tax breaks for corporations that hold business conferences and meetings at male-exclusive clubs. The members of Congress were joined by Martha Burk, chair of the National Council for Women’s Organizations (NCWO), who is leading the fight against Augusta National, and Feminist Majority Vice President Kathy Spillar. “The American taxpayer should never pick up the tab for discrimination of any kind,” said Maloney in her press statement on the “Ending Tax Breaks for Discrimination Act of 2003,” also known as the Maloney-Sherman bill. “This bill sends the message that we are not stopping at Augusta. It is not about ending sexual discrimination at one club, it’s about ending sexual discrimination everywhere.” California, Colorado, and Kentucky have already enacted similar legislation.

Currently, the tax code permits business expense deductions for conventions, travel, accommodations, and advertising. In addition, deductions may also include expenses incurred while promoting and conducting business activities at private clubs, as well as 50 percent of business meals. There are more than 3,000 private clubs in the US, at least 24 of which are male-exclusive. Supporters of the Maloney-Sherman measure insist that government-subsidized discrimination is yet another example of how women are consistently excluded from major business decisions. Moreover, by entertaining at clubs that discriminate against women, corporations violate their own anti-discrimination and diversity policies.

Altering its position held earlier this spring, the US Air Force Academy this weekend unveiled a new sexual assault policy that rejects the confidentiality of victims reporting assault. In what appeared less an effort to confront the hostilities in academy culture that foster violence against women and more like an attempt to disprove charges “that reporting this type of crime will ruin a cadet’s career,” the policy mandates participation from criminal investigators, a chaplain, a nurse, and a cadet representative in every reported assault case, according to the Associated Press. Rape victim advocates say the changes will likely discourage victims from coming forward. “The best way to help a victim start to heal is by giving them choices about what they want to have happen,” said Cari Davis, executive director of the Colorado Springs-based rape crisis center TESSA, according to the AP.

Meanwhile, a USA Today editorial last week questioned Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s selection of two panelists to oversee sexual assault policies at the academy. Joshiah Bunting III, as head of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), was a staunch opponent of women cadets at the publicly funded institution, calling their Supreme Court-ordered inclusion in 1996 a “savage disappointment.” Last week, panelist Amy McCarthy said she doubted the truthfulness of the female cadets’ allegations. “Due to the fact that many of the women making the allegations were involved with drinking, partying, strip poker, what I call high-risk behaviors, my personal opinion is that a number of these allegations or the veracity of these allegations may be suspect,” McCarthy told AP Radio, as reported by the AP.

A jury awarded three female Glendale, CA, police officers $3.5 million after finding that the police department created a hostile work environment and failed to prevent sexual harassment. The women said in their lawsuit, filed in December 2001, that they were groped and propositioned by male officers, denied promotion opportunities and coveted assigments, threatened with the loss of their jobs if they refused to date the harassing officers, and shown pornography during roll call, according to the Associated Press.

The city of Glendale spent $1 million to defend the case, according to the Los Angeles Times. Lawyer Brad Gage, representing the plaintiffs, said that the department should take further steps to discipline the officers accused of misconduct; instead, some of these officers have been promoted or allowed to retire with full benefits, AP reports. Each of the three women officers involved in the lawsuit has suffered health problems related to stress.

Women make up only about 10 percent of the Glendale police department, and only two women hold the rank of sergeant or higher, the Times reports.

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An article appearing yesterday in Salon.com revisited the little-publicized topic of domestic violence in same-sex relationships. Citing a study released last September by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) showing a 25 percent increase in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) domestic violence from 4,048 reported cases in 2000 to 5,046 cases in 2001, the article noted the continued paucity of legal protections and services for victims of gay domestic violence. Despite abuse rates comparable to those among heterosexual couples, “…when it comes to gay domestic violence, not only has society largely ignored the issue, but the law itself also frequently discriminates against same-sex couples. Making the issue more complicated is the reluctance of some members of the gay community to publicize any dysfunction in their midst,” David Tuller wrote in Salon. In Delaware, Louisiana, Montana, New York, South Carolina, and Virginia, same-sex couples are excluded from legal protections offered to domestic violence victims. To date, only one domestic violence shelter in the US serves all abuse victims, regardless of gender and orientation.

In a move that protects more than 30,000 current employees, outgoing Kentucky Governor Paul Patton (D) last month signed an executive order prohibiting sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination against state government workers and job applicants, reported the Cincinnati Enquirer/Associated Press. The order, pushed heavily by state Senator Ernesto Scorsone (D-Fayette), makes Kentucky the first state in the South to offer state workers legal protection in this arena and makes Patton the first US governor to implement the measure through executive order.

Similar “fairness ordinances” already exist in the state’s three largest cities – Louisville, Lexington, and Covington, according to the Kentucky Fairness Alliance (KFA), the state’s primary gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (GLBT) rights organization. “We’re feeling like we’re on a roll with the nondiscrimination legislation enacted in Covington in April, and the city of Lexington just granted their employees domestic partnership benefits, and now this executive order,” said KFA Executive Director Andrea Hildebran.

Because term limits force Patton to leave office this fall, activists are working to garner sufficient public support should the succeeding governor consider repealing the order.

“I think with six months of [Patton’s] term left we can show that there is strong support for this legislation,” Scorsone told Gay.com. “It’s of course a lot easier to keep a right than to get one.”

Eric Robert Rudolph will appear in court in Birmingham, AL today where he is expected to enter a plea. According to the Associated Press, Rudolph’s lawyer refuses to discuss whether or not Rudolph maintains his innocence.

Rudolph will face his first trial in Alabama for the bombing of the New Woman All Woman Heath Care clinic that killed an off-duty police officer and permanently injured a clinic nurse, according to CBSNews.com. Attorney General John Ashcroft stated that the trial in Alabama would be “relatively short and straightforward.” The deadly bombing in Birmingham apparently offers the strongest case against Rudolph based on eyewitness accounts at the scene of the bombing and physical evidenced later uncovered by police from Rudolph’s property, the Associated Press reported this afternoon. Rudolph will then faces charges in Atlanta, GA for his connection to three bombings including and abortion clinic, a gay nightclub, and the Centennial Park bombing at the 1996 Olympic Games that killed one person and injured over one hundred.

In another report form the Associated Press this afternoon, Rudolph apparently spoke to police officials about surviving in the wilderness while he was on the run and gave accounts of hunting, foraging for supplies, and eating acorns and lizards to survive. County Sheriff Keith Lovin told the Associated Press that Rudolph hasn’t yet been asked about any assistance he may have received and he didn’t offer any information spontaneously. Sheriff Lovin said he does not believe that Rudolph survived on his own for five years without assistance from someone.

Eric Robert Rudolph, suspected bomber of two abortion clinics, a gay nightclub, and Centennial Park in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympics, was captured without incident early Saturday morning in Murphy, NC. The arresting officer found Rudolph rooting through a garbage dumpster near a grocery store close to where authorities began searching for him in July of 1998.

Rudolph, a Christian Identity adherent with connections to the violent anti-abortion group the Army of God, had eluded authorities for close to five years and is now believed to have stayed within 20 to 30 miles of the mountainous area that he disappeared into, according to the Associated Press. The last time the search for Rudolph appeared in the news was in March of 2002 when two letters claiming to be from the Army of God were found in Andrews, NC. Both letters had “ERIC ROBERT RUDOLPH, MAY GOD BE WITH YOU!” written at the top and went on to threaten violence against abortion providers and clinics. The Army of God, the most violent wing of the anti-abortion extremist movement, has taken credit for several clinic arsons and bombings since the 1980s. They are known for their support of domestic terrorists in the anti-abortion movement and most recently showed public support for James Kopp, confessed killer of abortion provider Dr. Barnet Slepian of Amherst, NY.

The four bombings that Rudolph is charged with left two people dead and over one hundred injured. He was placed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list in May of 1998. He is the third anti-abortion extremist in the last five years to be placed on an FBI list and the third to be captured.

Now that Rudolph is in custody and faces six charges of using an explosive against a facility in interstate commerce, authorities have begun investigating whether or not Rudolph had any assistance from local residents while he was on the run, according to USA Today. Rudolph’s mother, Patricia Rudolph, told USA Today, “he must’ve had help…he loved the woods, but I don’t think he could’ve done it on his own.” The Associated Press reports that an unnamed law-enforcement source said that investigators are “making progress” in determining how Rudolph survived the elements over the last five years. Helping a fugitive evade authorities is a felony.

The Associated Press reported that Rudolph appeared at a hearing in Asheville, NC this afternoon where it was determined that he will face trial first in Birmingham, AL where an off duty officer was killed when a double bombing took place there in 1998. Rudolph will then face trial in Atlanta, the site of the Olympics bombing and other related bombings.

Mirroring the hostility many female cadets confronted when they reported sexual assault incidents at Colorado’s Air Force Academy, a woman appointed to a panel charged with investigating the academy’s mishandling of more than 50 sexual assault incidents has said that she questions the truthfulness of the female cadets’ allegations.

“Due to the fact that many of the women making the allegations were involved with drinking, partying, strip poker, what I call high-risk behaviors, my personal opinion is that a number of these allegations or the veracity of these allegations may be suspect,” Panelist Amy McCarthy told AP Radio, as reported by the Associated Press.

McCarthy is one of seven people appointed to an independent panel that is investigating reports of the mishandling of at least 57 alleged sexual assault incidents at the Air Force Academy over the past 10 years. In February, several women came forward claiming that the academy disciplined women who reported rape or assault, in some cases forcing them to leave. Spurring numerous ongoing investigations by entities both inside and outside of the military, the academy recently proposed sweeping changes known as the Agenda for Change.

Air Force Secretary James Roche recently said that two academy commanders, who were reassigned after the sexual assault scandal surfaced, could face charges if investigators find that they mishandled complaints. Previously, Roche had said that a stifling academy environment was to blame for the incidents rather than the commanders, Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Dallager and Commandant Brig. Gen. Taco Gilbert III. However, Roche told the Associated Press before the academy’s recent commencement ceremony: “We are judging commanders. We do that all the time.”

In a resounding victory for millions of working families across the country, the Supreme Court yesterday ruled to extend provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)-which guarantee employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family or medical problems-to state government workers. Despite a series of conservative 5-4 Supreme Court decisions in recent years dramatically curtailing the federal government’s ability to protect state employees from discrimination on the basis of religion and disability, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist issued the majority opinion in Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs, writing, “by creating an across-the-board, routine employment benefit for all eligible employees, Congress sought to ensure that family leave would no longer be stigmatized as an inordinate drain on the workplace caused by female employees and that employers could not evade leave obligations by simply hiring men.” Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas issued dissenting opinions.

National Partnership for Women & Families (NPWF) President Judith L. Lichtman hailed the high court’s decision, stating, “Today’s ruling is a victory for the nearly five million state workers who deserve the same right to family and medical leave as other employees… The FMLA eliminates the discrimination and stereotypes that say only women can be caregivers and only men can be breadwinners and FMLA moves us toward a time when both men and women can take care of their families without losing their jobs,” according to a NPWF press release.

Last February, Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduced the Family Leave Expansion Act, that would extend FMLA to employers having at least 25 employees and also allow leave for domestic violence issues.

The Feminist Majority Foundation joins the NPWF in its call for paid family leave benefits. Although the FMLA has assisted over 35 million Americans in protecting their jobs, still too many women and men cannot afford to take the time off. The United States remains one of few developed nations that does not offer some form of paid parental leave. Approximately 127 countries offer compensation to parents, while many others have passed similar laws to compensate workers who need time off because of family emergencies.

A new study on the state of the workplace for lesbians and gays finds that in 2002, more US cities and counties passed ant-discrimination laws protecting lesbian and gay workers than in any other year. The Human Rights Campaign study reports that 119 cities and 23 counties have passed laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace, including 15 last year.

However, it is still legal to discriminate in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation in 37 states, and on the basis of gender identity or expression in 44 states. “City ordinance is the only form of protection in states where discrimination in the workplace is allowed,” said Daryl Herrschaft, chief author of the study, according to Gay.com.

The study also found that at least 61 percent of Fortune 500 employers had non-discrimination policies covering sexual orientation. The number of Fortune 500 companies that provided domestic partner benefits rose by 13 percent from 2001, with a total of 169 companies offering these benefits. “When you add it all up, it shows a huge amount of progress for our community,” said Kim Mills, HRC’s education director, according to the Washington Post.

Both the US House and the Senate rejected amendments to $400 billion defense spending bills that would have repealed a ban on abortions for women stationed overseas. The amendments, sponsored in the House by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) and in the Senate by Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) were rejected on votes of 227 to 201 and 51 to 48. “No woman should be forced to surrender her constitutional rights as they risk their lives to protect our freedom,” Sen. Murray said as reported in the New York Times.

Currently, women stationed overseas and military dependents are not able to obtain abortions at military health facilities, even with private funds, except in cases of rape or incest – which must be paid for with private funds. This policy discriminates against US servicewomen or female military dependents just because they are stationed overseas, as noted by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). It also endangers the health of women overseas by forcing those who need an abortion to seek what could be unsafe or illegal services in the host country. In addition, the privacy of these women could be at stake if they are forced to tell a military superior that they need an abortion and therefore need a flight back to the United States, according to PPFA.

Abortion rights supporters in Congress have offered similar amendments on an annual basis since 1996. The ban, which was put into effect by Congress in 1988, was lifted for two years under the Clinton administration but reinstated by Congress in 1996.

LEARN MORE Click here to read women’s narratives about barriers or successes in accessing reproductive health and family planning services.

After filing for divorce to escape more than a decade of abuse, Crystal Brame, the estranged wife of Tacoma Washington Police Chief David Brame, died Saturday after clinging to life for nearly a week. On April 26, Crystal was shot by her husband, who then turned the gun on himself in front of the couple’s two children after they met in a shopping mall parking lot. In the two weeks following the shooting, reports have begun to surface about David Brame’s history including a 1988 date rape. According to Margaret Moore, director of FMF’s National Center for Women and Policing “Brame’s behavior was a classic profile of a police domestic abuser. There were indications that were ignored by the department and the elected officials. Police family violence policies should be mandatory for every department.” The shooting occurred just one day after reports of David Brame’s abusive behavior – detailed in divorce proceedings – became public and Tacoma officials urged that his gun be taken away. City Attorney Robin Jenkinson rejected that recommendation on grounds that “divorce was none of the city’s business,” the Washington Post reported. Under the Lautenberg Amendment or Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban that was approved by Congress in 1996, anyone convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor is prohibited from owning a gun – including police officers. Reports that David Brame date-raped a woman at gunpoint in 1988 had started to resurface more than a month before the shooting incident, according to the Associated Press. The woman, who claims that Brame forced her to have sex with him at gunpoint after a date, reported the incident to a police officer shortly afterwards. The alleged rape was investigated and the complaint was declared, “not sustained,” by then Police Chief Ray Fjetland, according to the AP. Fjetland told the woman that Brame would be sent to a police psychologist. In addition, in 1981 a police psychologist declared Brame “unfit for police work,” according to the Post. The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs is conducting an investigation into Brame’s career with the Tacoma Police Department and his promotion to police chief. LEARN MORE For the victims of police family violence, you are not alone. Get help now ASK A QUESTION Renae Griggs, Executive Director of the National Police Family Violence Prevention Project will be answering questions until Friday, May 9 about the issue of police family violence

Tacoma, Washington, chief of police David Brame, whose history of domestic violence was revealed on Friday, shot his wife and killed himself on Saturday. Crystal Brame had filed for divorce two months ago, detailing in court documents incidents of physical and psychological abuse by her husband, including an incident in November 2002 when David Brame “choked [her] and threatened that he could snap [her] neck if he wanted to,” according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Shortly before they separated in February, she alleged, Brame pointed his service revolver at her and said “accidents happen,” according to the Post-Intelligencer.

David Brame, however, claimed that Crystal was the abusive partner in the relationship. He alleged in court documents that Crystal, at just over five feet tall and weighing 105 pounds, had scratched, bruised, and pushed him during two incidents in September 1996, according to the Times. Brame told the Times that he had reported the incidents to the police and had them photograph his bruises but asked them not to investigate the assaults, despite the fact that state law requires officers to arrest anyone suspected of domestic violence based on a credible complaint. Brame explained that he was trying to “protect himself” from “false” abuse allegations from his wife, according to the Post-Intelligencer.

Judie Fortier, who has headed Tacoma’s domestic violence task force since its inception, said that any complaints of abuse by David Brame should have triggered an investigation that could have prevented this tragedy, according to the News Tribune. If nothing else, Fortier said, the police department should have launched an investigation on Friday when the domestic abuse allegations were made public, the News Tribune reports. However, city and police officials refused to intervene. The day before the shootings, Mayor Bill Baarsma said the allegations were a “private matter” and Tacoma City Manager Ray Corpuz told the Post-Intelligencer that he was “not interested in exploring David’s personal life at this time.” According to Margaret Moore, director of the National Center for Women and Policing, “Brame’s behavior was a classic profile of a police domestic abuser. There were indications that were ignored by the department and the elected officials. Police family violence policies should be mandatory for every department.”

David and Crystal Brame met by chance on Saturday while David was presumably taking their two children on an errand, and the couple had a brief and reportedly heated discussion before Brame shot his wife and then himself with his service revolver, according to the Seattle Times. Crystal is in serious but stable condition after suffering a gunshot wound to the head. The children, Haley, 8, and David Jr., 5, are staying with their maternal grandparents.

LEARN MORE For the victims of police family violence, you are not alone. Get help now.

Ask a Question Renae Griggs, Executive Director of the National Police Family Violence Prevention Project will be answering questions from May 2 to May 9 about the issue of police family violence

One week after replacing its top brass, the embattled US Air Force Academy is bracing for institutional changes, promising to confront the embarrassing rape scandal that has plagued the academy the last several months. Last Thursday, Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida, who replaced Brig. Gen. S. Taco Gilbert II as commandant, pledged to a crowd of 4,000, “We’re going to attack [sexual assault] three ways: culture, communication and commitment,” reported the Denver Post. The same day, Col. Debra Gray replaced Col. Bob Eskridge as vice commandant of cadets.

The Agenda for Change as the proposals are termed, calls for dramatic shifts in student body structure, including greater adult oversight and a weakened student command chain, as well as implementation of 24-hour dorm security and monitoring. In addition, the agenda mandates reporting of rape by anyone with knowledge of the incident, including fellow cadets, academy counselors, and medical staff–regardless of the victim’s request for confidentiality. Victim advocates warn that this violation of confidentiality is not only insensitive to a victim’s space and sense of safety, but the “inappropriate sharing” of information heightens distrust of academy officials, who victims fear may use post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from rape against them for career advancement. “Victims have to have a right to talk to somebody and have that held in confidence,” said Jennifer Bier, director of Tessa, a Colorado Springs domestic violence agency, according to Salon.

The military’s consideration of special policies for women, including segregated dorms during basic training and clustered rooms, has sparked similar controversy. Professor Hillman told Salon, “[granting women special protection] sends the wrong message to the women there… It’s as if we’re saying, ‘You need to be protected.’ These are women who are going to be officers in the Air Force. They are going to do the protecting. When you’re perceived as a victim, it makes it difficult to assert power and authority.”