ENROLLED ORIGINAL
A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION
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IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
February 2, 2021
To declare the month of April 2021 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the District of
Columbia, and to urge residents to show their support for victim-survivors and work to
prevent sexual assault, abuse, harassment, and sex trafficking.
WHEREAS, in 1978, the first Take Back the Night events in the United States were held
in San Francisco and New York City;
WHEREAS, the movement that developed in the United States was also created in the
wake of the civil rights movement, which was buoyed by Black womens activism to disrupt the
persistent and systemic sexual violence that they experienced;
WHEREAS, the month of April has been designated as Sexual Assault Awareness Month
in the United States and was first observed nationally in April 2001, after the alarming statistics of
sexual assaults and underreporting became more apparent;
WHEREAS, sexual assault awareness includes prevention and advocacy efforts to address
varying forms of sexual violence, including childhood sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sex
trafficking, and rape;
WHEREAS, sexual assault awareness activities have expanded to include the issues of
sexual violence against men and mens participation in ending sexual violence;
WHEREAS, sexual violence exists on a spectrum of behaviors, ranging from verbal
harassment to sexual assault, and it is imperative to recognize that sexual harassment in the
workplace is a pervasive, yet often overlooked, manifestation of sexual violence;
WHEREAS, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, every 73 seconds,
someone in the United States is sexually assaulted;
WHEREAS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 7 children
have experienced abuse or neglect in the last year;
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WHEREAS, according to the National Center for Victims of Crimes, victim-survivors of
child sexual abuse have higher rates of being sexually assaulted again as adults, with children who
had an experience of rape or attempted rape in their adolescent years being 13.7 times more likely
to experience rape or attempted rape in their first year of college;
WHEREAS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among adult
women surveyed, 22% of Black, 26.9% of American Indian/Alaska Native, 22% of non-Hispanic
Black, 18.8% of non-Hispanic White, 14.6% of Hispanic, and 35.5% of women of multiple races
experienced an attempted or a completed rape at some time in their lives;
WHEREAS, according to the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, 23% of
Asian/Pacific Islander women experience sexual violence;
WHEREAS, according to a study conducted by Ayuda, married immigrant women
experience higher levels of physical and sexual abuse than unmarried immigrant women, 59.5%
compared to 49.8%, respectively;
WHEREAS, 12% of transgender youth report being sexually assaulted in K12 settings by
peers or educational staff, 14% of African-American transgender people surveyed were sexually
assaulted in the workplace, and 22% of homeless transgender individuals were assaulted while
staying in shelters;
WHEREAS, according to the National Sexual Violence Research Center, lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and queer people were three times more likely to report sexual violence or harassment
compared to heterosexual people;
WHEREAS, in Deaf communities, reliance on interpreters may create problems as some
sexual assault survivors feel like their private experiences are not correctly represented and feel
uncomfortable reporting their assault to a stranger outside of their community;
WHEREAS, the rate of sexual assault against people with disabilities was 3 times that of
people without disabilities;
WHEREAS, according to the Administration for Children and Families, racial and ethnic
minorities, communities exposed to multigenerational trauma, individuals with a history of
substance abuse, leaving home, homeless youth, people with lived experience of poverty, and
children in the child welfare system, as well as those with a history of sexual abuse, are identified
as some of the groups most vulnerable to human trafficking;
WHEREAS, according to research conducted by World Without Exploitation, 68% of
adolescents who were victims of commercial sexual exploitation were sexually abused in
childhood, and 87% of youth involved in commercial sexual exploitation, coupled with a history
of sexual abuse, have left home;
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WHEREAS, according to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Councils Statistical Analysis
Center, Black girls in their teens and twenties in the District were the largest proportion of
trafficking victims in 2016; and
WHEREAS, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions Task Force on the Study
of Harassment in the Workplace found that 45% of all workplace harassment complaints filed in
Fiscal Year 2015 were based on sex, and that sexual harassment victim-survivors experience
detrimental psychological and physical health effects.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the Sexual Assault Awareness Month Recognition Resolution of
2021.
Sec. 2. The Council of the District of Columbia recognizes and supports Sexual Assault
Awareness Month, urges residents to show their support for victim-survivors and work to prevent
sexual assault, abuse, sex trafficking, and harassment, and declares the month of April 2021 as
Sexual Assault Awareness Month in the District of Columbia.
Sec. 3. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
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