Inside Report for October 29, 2009

• By JOE GYAN JR.
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Oct 29, 2009 - Page: 9B

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The messages on T-shirts hung on a clothesline at a recent domestic violence rally at LSU spoke volumes about an issue many people in the community care not to talk about.

“HELL: 11 years of no life of my own. His words hurt so bad. He was happy! I was always sad!’’ one yellow shirt read.

“It’s NOT my fault. I’m not … worthless, fat, ugly, ashamed!!!’’ another yellow shirt proclaimed.

The Clothesline Project is a program that began on Cape Cod, Mass., in 1990 to address the issue of violence against women.

The T-shirts give women affected by violence a means to express their emotions.

Shirts are color-coded to show the form of abuse and whether the victim survived the abuse. Yellow represents battered or assaulted women.

The Clothesline Project was one of the many sponsors of the Take Back the Night candlelight vigil and march Oct. 18 on the LSU campus.

Another sponsor was the Capital Area Family Violence Intervention Center, better known as the Battered Women’s Program.

Martha Forbes, the program’s executive director, told Take Back the Night participants domestic violence is a “scourge on our community.’’

Several days later, Forbes said 16 families live at Zonta House, the Capital Area domestic violence shelter.

The facility can hold 21 families.

Asked for her assessment of the state of domestic violence in the Baton Rouge area, Forbes said, “We are in a better place than we were five years ago in terms of being willing to talk about domestic violence as a community issue.’’

At the rally, Peggy Gehbauer, executive director of  the Governor’s Office on Women’s Policy, quoted a gubernatorial proclamation that labeled domestic violence “one of the most critical public health issues.’’