FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, May 11, 2012 MEDIA CONTACT: Katy Otto, Service Women's Action Network

240-478-9387 (cell) or katy@servicewomen.org

Historic Summit on Military Sexual Violence Draws Over 200 Veteran and Active Duty Survivors to Capitol Hill
Survivors of Military Sexual Assault Personally Address Congressional Leaders after Tuesday's Summit with Service Women's Action Network (Photos Available)
WASHINGTON, D.C. This week, Service Women's Action Network (SWAN) held the first mass gathering of over 200 Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine veteran sexual assault survivors in the nations capital for Truth and Justice: The 2012 Summit on Military Sexual Violence. Photos from the event are available online here. The summit, held in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, May 8, provided military sexual assault survivors and their families the opportunity to share personal experiences with members of Congress. Over 132 summit participants met with their legislators -- 88 Democrats and 43 Republicans -- from 28 states. While on Capitol Hill, the survivors delivered 20,969 signed petitions calling for decisive action to end military rape to the Chairs of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees and the Senate and House Veterans' Affairs Committees. "In our organizational history, we have never experienced a victory like this," said Anu Bhagwati, Executive Director of SWAN and former Marine Corps captain. "We literally had the voices of hundreds in Washington, D.C., sharing firsthand accounts of how rape in the military has impacted their lives. Their bravery in coming forward, despite trauma, retaliation and betrayal is nothing short of humbling, and has directly contributed to the ongoing movement to end sexual violence in the military." Bhagwati co-authored an op-ed on the epidemic of military sexual violence with Larry Korb, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, this week. View the op-ed, "Rape in the Ranks," which ran in the Baltimore Sun on Wednesday, May 9, here. Following Tuesday's veterans' panel on resilience and reintegration and policy panel on strategies for system reform, Mary Lauterbach the mother of Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach, who was 20 years old when she was murdered in 2007 by a fellow Marine accused of raping her only weeks before presented The Lauterbach Award for Truth and Justice. Lauterbach and SWAN recognized Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA), Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) with the award for each individual's sustained commitment to the elimination of sexual violence in the military. Last year, Rep. Tsongas and Rep. Turner introduced the Defense Sexual Trauma Response Oversight and Good Governance (STRONG) Act, which then received Senate support from Sen. Collins and Sen. Kerry.

"Sexual assault is horrific beyond words, and when its victims are Americans who put their lives on the line in defense of our country, its particularly nauseating," said Sen. John Kerry. "As a prosecutor in Massachusetts I saw with my own eyes the ravages of sexual assault on its victims, but before that, I was in the Navy, and I can say with every fiber of my being that such a reprehensible crime has no place in our armed forces where people live by a code and a promise to country. Here in Congress, Senator Collins, Congressman Tsongas, Congressman Turner, and I made it our mission to crack down on sexual assaults in the military and strengthen protections for victims, and I was honored to receive an award for this work that is dedicated to such a courageous person in LCpl. Lauterbach, who proudly wore the uniform of our country. To honor her life, we must all do everything we can to end this cycle of violence and protect its victims. Rep. Tsongas, on Tuesday, said, "It is with tremendous gratitude that I accept the Marie Lauterbach Award today. In the last several months, we have seen considerable progress in the effort to address the scourge of sexual assault within the ranks. Many of the changes have been achieved because members of Congress insisted upon them after hearing from the many brave survivors who came forward and shared their often painful stories. It is these courageous voices that have led to meaningful progress on this most grievous issue, and they will continue to inspire us as we work towards the elimination of this crime in our military. For more information on SWAN's "Truth and Justice: The 2012 Summit on Military Sexual Violence," visit www.truthandjusticesummit.org or contact Katy Otto at katy@servicewomen.org or 240-478-9387. ### SWAN is a national civil rights organization founded and led by women veterans. SWANs vision is to transform military culture by securing equal opportunity and the freedom to serve in uniform without threat of harassment, discrimination, intimidation or assault. SWAN also seeks to reform veterans' services on a national scale to guarantee equal access to quality health care, benefits and resources for women veterans and their families. You can follow Service Womens Action Network on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/servicewomen, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/servicewomen.