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 1                          HOUSE RESOLUTION

 2        WHEREAS, V-Day was born in 1998 as an  outgrowth  of  Eve
 3    Ensler's Obie Award-winning play, "The Vagina Monologues"; as
 4    Eve  performed  the piece in small towns and large cities all
 5    around  the  world,  she  saw  and  heard  first   hand   the
 6    destructive   personal,   social,   political,  and  economic
 7    consequences  that  violence  against  women  has  for   many
 8    nations; and

 9        WHEREAS,  Hundreds  of  women  told  her their stories of
10    rape, incest, domestic battery, and  genital  mutilation;  it
11    was clear that something widespread and dramatic needed to be
12    done to stop the violence; and

13        WHEREAS,  Worldwide,  over  40%  of  the adults who daily
14    become infected with HIV are women; 10% to over 50% of  women
15    have  been  physically  assaulted  by  an  intimate  partner;
16    one-third  to one-half of physically abused women also report
17    sexual coercion; many of these women reported that suggesting
18    condom use resulted in violence; and

19        WHEREAS, The mission of V-Day is simple; it demands  that
20    the  violence must end; it proclaims Valentine's Day as V-Day
21    until the violence stops; when all women live in  safety,  no
22    longer fearing violence or the threat of violence, then V-Day
23    will be known as Victory over Violence Day; and

24        WHEREAS,  Through  V-Day  campaigns, local volunteers and
25    college students produce annual benefit performances of  "The
26    Vagina  Monologues"  to  raise  awareness  and funds for anti
27    violence groups within their own communities; in  2002,  more
28    than  800  V-Day  benefit  events  were  presented  by  local
29    volunteer  activists  around the world, educating millions of
30    people about the reality of violence against women and girls;
31    and
 
                            -2-      LRB093 14395 KEF 20258 r
 1        WHEREAS, V-Day itself stages  large  scale  benefits  and
 2    promotes  innovative  gatherings  and  programs  (The  Afghan
 3    Women's   Summit,  The  Stop  Rape  Contest,  Indian  Country
 4    Project,  and  more)  to  change  social  attitudes   towards
 5    violence against women; and

 6        WHEREAS,  V-Day  was  named  one of Worth Magazine's "100
 7    Best Charities" in 2001; in its first five years,  the  V-Day
 8    movement  has  raised  over $14 million, with over $7 million
 9    raised in 2002 alone; and

10        WHEREAS, On February 18,  2004,  Chicago  will  hold  its
11    third  consecutive V-Day event with the benefit production of
12    "The Vagina Monologues"; therefore, be it

13        RESOLVED,  BY  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES   OF   THE
14    NINETY-THIRD  GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
15    we recognize and  wholeheartedly  support  the  efforts  that
16    V-Day  campaigns  have made to stop violence against women by
17    designating February 14 as V-Day.