State Senator Betsy Close is an Obstacle to Women and Children
Domestic Violence Awareness at the Polls: State Senator Betsy Close - VOTER BEWARE
INTRODUCTION Oregon State District 8 Senator Betsy Close(R) - Oregon Domestic Violence and Marital Rape Victim Speaks Out
Betsy Close is an obstacle to women and children in Oregon seeking safety and security. She holds many extreme fundamentalist beliefs that are a detriment to women and children as well as the general community.
Senator Close's brand of conservatism does not represent the majority of the people in the district and her views on the subservience of women, legalistic Christianity and dogmatic right-wing extremism are toxic and wrong for Oregon.
I lived in Corvallis, Independence, Albany and Salem for over twenty years. When I was divorcing my husband to escape a long-term abusive marriage, Betsy Close was a friend of my family. She testified at my divorce trial that no Christian woman has a right to divorce her husband except in cases of desertion or fornication outside the marriage. She sided publicly with the man who had abused me and my children physically and psychologically for 18 years!
Domestic violence is a huge problem in the United States. In 1999, Governor Kitzhaber reported that domestic violence is at epidemic proportions in Oregon – and nothing substantive has changed in the years since he made that statement. New legislation is needed that would promote safety, wellness, and wholeness for women, children and families involved in domestic violence and abuse incidents in Oregon.
As long as individuals, such as Betsy Close, are in office who fail to recognize the severe and far-reaching consequences of domestic violence to our society, women in situations like mine will continue to suffer. Anyone who denies a woman’s (or a child’s) right to be safe, especially when that denial in cloaked in a paternalistic and legalistic religious dogma, contributes to the prevalence of the abuse. Betsy Close is such a person and the wrong choice to represent the people of Benton and Linn Counties.
From 1993-1994, Oregon State District 8 Senator Betsy Close phoned me, during the time of my illness and told me God had cursed me. She sent me letters exhorting me to repent. She does not believe an abused and battered woman has a “right to divorce.” Under Betsy Close’s fundamental ideology, a wife should just call “911.”
Ms. Close’s viewpoints promote domestic violence and loss of lives.
Betsy Close’s testimony in court is public record and I have written several articles on the subject of domestic violence. For more information on this topic, you are welcome to review my published articles. My revised published book, BONSHEA: Making Light of the Dark, will be published in Feb. 2013. Numerous audio court hearing tapes, which include Betsy Close's hostile testimony, will be included in a documentary on my life story in 2013. See reviews below by Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson and Dr. Barbara May, Professor of Nursing, Linfield College, Portland, Oregon.
BONSHEÁ Making Light of the Dark shares my search for freedom and light in a society based on patriarchal religion and laws. It openly speaks about the ideas and beliefs in our society which foster sexism, racism, the denigration of human rights and the intolerance of difference. My documentation exposes the dark side of human nature when all people are not valued. A healthy society must have the courage to address these issues, speak about them, examine them and bring them to light. Indifference encourages, "silent violence"-the type of violence I experienced in my home, in the community, religious circles and judicial system. Nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel states, "The indifference to suffering makes the human inhumane."
Posted: October 18th, 2012
At the Advocate, we generally try to remain non-partisan when it comes to local politics. But sometimes a situation arises that makes you shake your head and wonder what those involved are thinking… in any case, it at least requires comment.
During the period of my breakdown/depression in the spring of 1994, my husband and his pastors left me at the “Wings of Love” half-way house on Killingsworth in Portland, Oregon to punish me and break me to the “will of God” they said. The house was a shelter for ex-cons, street people and prostitutes. It was filthy and was infested with rats and lice. Three months earlier, I had a D & C, due to my 3rd miscarriage.
I lost custody and contact with my eight children, including my nursing infant, when I sought safety in 1995 from my abusive husband. I became homeless due to disability and the cost of ongoing court trauma. I was sued by my wealthy ex-husband for twice the amount I earn on disability while destitute and living in my car. Since 1995 my ex-husband has legally stalked me, i.e, forty-two court hearings including his appeal to the Oregon State of Appeals. I have lived under a state address protection program since 1999.
This is a summary of my story:
After surviving years of childhood and marital abuse and neglect, a woman suffers a physical collapse, partial stroke and severe mental/nervous breakdown. While in a near catatonic state, the woman is physically assaulted and raped. She becomes pregnant.
Toward the final stages of her pregnancy, she fully recovers from her breakdown. She births her baby, and mother and baby enjoy bonding and breastfeeding. The mother cherishes her newborn son. After undergoing several psychiatric tests and evaluations, her physicians state that she is well.
Her abuser, the father of the child, manipulates the judicial system and seeks custody of the baby. With intervention from the religious community and testimony about the mother's prior mental history, the father is awarded custody of the nursing infant. The mother is ordered to pay her rapist/abuser exorbitant child support while suffering from homelessness and disabilities. She is no longer allowed contact with her child. When the baby is abruptly taken away, the mother goes into shock.
The 'father of the child' has committed crimes against the mother according to Oregon statutes and laws (Chapter 743, Oregon Laws 1971, 163.375), but is embraced and rewarded in our judicial and religious system. The victim becomes the criminal. I am this woman; this baby is my child; and the father of this child is my ex-husband.
Anyone can Endure Tyranny but it takes True Courage to Embrace Freedom
To this day, I remember the terrifying fear I felt for years as a child and also during my marriage that had me lying awake shaking some nights. Every form of abuse has a long lasting effect on each one of us.
I no longer embrace the ideological rigidity and doctrines of patriarchal religions and fundamental “Christianity,” but wish to help those who are being abused “in the name of God.” My script for my life involves wholeness, dignity, honor and self-respect. I am at peace with my life and my past and have learned that as I honor myself, I honor God.
I remind those around me to not forget the millions of women and children who are veterans of intimate wars and private anguish and for whom terror at home is business as usual. One in four women will experience violence at the hands of their partner at some time in their lives and one in three women will be the victim of sexual assault.
The shame of my abuse lies upon the community who refuses to help or stop it. Domestic violence and abuse begins in the minds of a community that allows and accepts it.
The kind of violence, abuse and suppression perpetrated by so many of our organized religions and government agencies is truly shocking and can only continue by our refusal to look AT IT rather than the OTHER WAY.
A victim's first scream is for help, a victim’s second scream is for justice.
During the period of my breakdown/depression in the spring of 1994, my husband and his pastors left me at the “Wings of Love” half-way house on Killingsworth in Portland, Oregon to punish me and break me to the “will of God” they said. The house was a shelter for ex-cons, street people and prostitutes. It was filthy and was infested with rats and lice. Three months earlier, I had a D & C, due to my 3rd miscarriage.
"When Those Who Are Supposed to Help You Get Out - Don't"
Written by Maria De Santis of the Women’s Justice Center, Santa Rosa, CA
Written by Maria De Santis of the Women’s Justice Center, Santa Rosa, CA
The Patriarchy Still Rules! And Still Needs to be Upended!
The glaring blind spot is rooted deep in the self-preservation mechanisms of patriarchal rule.
The glaring blind spot is rooted deep in the self-preservation mechanisms of patriarchal rule.
BONSHEA Press Release, reviews, articles, music tribute, and radio show links at: www.coralanikatheill.com
You can contact me at coraltheill@hotmail.com if you have any questions.
BONSHEA: Making Light of the Dark Reviews:
Casting religion in a negative light, can often invite a strong reaction mixed with accusations of heresy and un-Godliness. Such reactions can have a chilling effect on those who might wish to express a negative human experience, namely domestic abuse, where religion has been used as a vehicle to enable the abuse. In BONSHEA, Coral Theill confronts this troublesome dynamic in an anecdotal account, which underscores the degree to which religion, and the legal system, can be used to enable systematic domestic abuse. In doing so, Coral Theill has ventured into relatively uncharted territory in a manner which may well draw detractors, but at the same time offers great validation for those who find themselves entangled in an abusive relationship buttressed with religious justification.
In addition to broaching this form of religious distortion, BONSHEA also illustrates the degree to which the legal system can also be used as a vehicle to further perpetuate abuse even after the victim has chosen to take a stand against the abuse. In BONSHEA, Coral Theill has clearly chosen to take a courageous stand. It is a stand that comes with a cost, but whose dividends are measured in the strength of the soul." – John Haroldson, District Attorney, Benton County District Attorney's Office, Corvallis, Oregon
Coral Theill's BONSHEÁ is intense in its effort to "open the doors" behind which many domestic violence perpetrators have stood for so long in the name of "privacy." She dispels painful secrets about the abuse and the violence in her life and the lives of her children, which is chilling to read about because of its pervasiveness, its limitlessness and its consequences. At every level-family and friends, key people in her community, the health care system, the legal and judicial system, and the culture which socializes us all-she met with adversity and re-victimization. In the telling of her recovery, which is truly remarkable given her circumstances, the reader gets a vivid sense of the indominability of her spirit and light. The strategies she shares with the reader can make a difference between being a victim and being a survivor.
Her story is compelling reading for anyone living or surviving this experience. I recommend this book for health care providers, those in the criminal justice system, and volunteers or helpers of any kind to get insights and clarity about the complex dynamics of domestic violence and its toxic effects to individuals and society-and what needs to be done to eradicate this pandemic problem." – Barbara A. May, PhD, RN PMHP, Professor of Nursing, Linfield College, Portland, Oregon
Coral Anika Theill's Documentation & Letters: http://coralanikatheill.blogspot.com
Coral Anika Theill's website: www.coralanikatheill.com
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