FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Christina Amestoy, VDP Communications Director
In Open Letter, Vermont Women Call on VTGOP to Denounce Recent Statements Defending Trump’s 2005 Comments
October 15, 2016
To the Vermont Republican Party and its candidates,
Donald Trump’s recently aired 2005 comments about forcing himself on women are disgusting and unacceptable. Period. They are unacceptable whether or not they were said behind closed doors and they are unacceptable whether or not the man who said them is running to become our next president. To try and argue otherwise is to stand with Trump in treating women as objects or second-class citizens and normalizing sexual assault.
We were angered to read that members of the VTGOP, both a legislative leader and a county chair, did just that. Today, we ask the VTGOP and its candidates to respond to these comments.
Representative Savage dismissed Trump’s quote with a chuckle, telling a reporter, “We've probably said similar things in our lifetime, you and I. It's just that the microphone probably wasn't on."
Addison County Chair, Jon Christiano offered, “You're a guy. So am I. We've probably all said similar things. There just wasn't a camera on at the time."
These excuses fall right in line with Trump’s very own dismissive line - it was just “locker room talk.”
No, it’s not. These are not just words- this is sexual assault. The comments and the excuses we have heard from Trump and these Vermont Republicans condone a culture where women are presented as objects to be be disrespected and dominated. We cannot continue to let these sexist, insulting remarks slip by under the facile excuse of “boys being boys.” To quote Michelle Obama, “to dismiss this as ‘every day locker room talk’ is an insult to decent men everywhere.”
We are not objects or second-class citizens, and we will not stand by and be treated as such. We respectfully ask the VTGOP to stand with us and denounce the insulting, dismissive comments delivered by Representative Savage and Addison County Chair Christiano.
Sincerely,
Dottie Deans
Marie Ricketts
Sue Minter
Kesha Ram
Ruth Hardy
Billi Gosh
Sarah Copeland Hanzas
Amanda McKay
Anne Lezak
Amelia Silver
Selene Colburn
Joan Lenes
Liz Schlegel
Laurie Childers
Kristina MacKulin
Diana Raphael
Becca Balint
Emily Carson
Julia Barnes
Mary Sullivan
Mollie Hart
Rosalie Fox
Judy Bevans
Fauna Hurley
Ellen Lovell
Molly Ritner
Krista Harness
Nicole Bova
Christina Amestoy
Kathy Romans Hall
Judy Kelly
Sian Leach
Sarah Buxton
Selene Hofer-Shall
Natalie Silver
Maritza Kompatzki
Maggie Lenz-McQuilken
Molly Bisulca
Annie Mendes
Susan Amestoy
Katherine Levasseur
Carmen Scoles
Melissa Sheffer
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