By Marci Fukuroda

The domestic violence movement of the past thirty years has resulted in the creation of more legal protections and services for domestic violence victims than have ever existed throughout our nation's history. Unfortunately, with this progress comes a backlash from those who feel that the movement has gone too far. Indeed, it has become increasingly apparent that advocates must not only fight at the "frontlines" to ensure safety and services for victims, they must also fight to "hold the line" that they have worked so hard to create.

One area that has recently come under attack is emergency shelter services for battered women and children. The California Women's Law Center ("CWLC") and the law firm O'Melveny & Myers, LLP currently represent nine domestic violence organizations in Los Angeles County that are being sued by representatives of a group called the National Coalition of Free Men ("NCFM") (Blumhorst v. Haven Hills, et al., Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. BC291977). The lawsuit alleges that these organizations engage in unlawful gender discrimination by not allowing men into their emergency shelters for battered women and children. As a remedy, the lawsuit seeks a court order forcing these organizations to admit men and requiring that the State of California and the County of Los Angeles cease funding organizations that do not admit men.

While this lawsuit purports to promote increased services for abused men, what it actually does is launch an unreasonable and harmful attack on what are already over-extended resources for battered women and their children. Domestic violence is a problem that cuts across race, culture, gender, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, and economic status. The fact remains, however, that domestic violence has a disproportionate impact on the health and safety of women. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, women accounted for 85 percent of all victims of intimate partner violence in 2001. Moreover, women were the victims in 74 percent of all intimate partner homicides in California in 2001.

Because the battering of women is such a tremendous societal problem, the California legislature has passed laws to provide state funding for the establishment and advancement of emergency shelters and services for battered women and their children. Nevertheless, due to the current economic crisis at both the state and federal levels, shelters are having a hard time meeting the needs of women and children. During the fiscal year 2000-2001, shelters that received funding from the California Department of Health Services served approximately 80,000 women and 20,000 children. Sadly, more than 23,000 victims had to be turned away because the shelters were full. While these statistics are alarming, they represent only a portion of the shelters in California. The true number of women and children who require emergency shelter each year is even greater.

There is no question that men also suffer violence at the hands of their intimate partners and are sometimes in need of shelter services. There is also no question that additional services are needed for abused men, as well as other communities effected by domestic violence such as lesbian and disabled victims. Nevertheless, suing overburdened shelters that are trying to save the lives of battered women and their children does not improve services for battered men, nor does it address the genuine and ongoing problem of sex discrimination.

Indeed, although NCFM claims to seek services for abused men, the ultimate relief sought in their lawsuit is the complete elimination of state funding for battered women's shelters and services. They have not made any demand for proportional state funding for services for abused men. It is clear, therefore, that NCFM is not concerned about safety or services for abused men, to the contrary, their only mission appears to be eroding legal protections and services for battered women.

In fact, in addition to the Blumhorst case, NCFM currently has a lawsuit against the State of California in which it brings equal protection challenges to over thirty different state laws and programs that benefit women. Programs threatened by this lawsuit include the Office of Women's Health, early breast cancer detection programs for poor women, and programs that increase access and training for women regarding nontraditional employment.

Chris Littleton, Chair of the UCLA Women's Studies Programs and past President of the Board of the California Women's Law Center, is consulting with the CWLC to identify strategies and unified responses to the wholesale attack being made by NCFM and other men's rights activists on programs and services for women. Through this work we intend to put a stop to current efforts to dismantle the progress that has been made to advance women's rights and create legal standards that recognize and reaffirm the need for programs and services that benefit women and girls.

Marci Fukuroda is the Domestic Violence Staff Attorney at the California Women's Law Center