Legislators exempt only women, from taking drug tests before getting welfare payments in domestic violence shelters in the U.S. state of Georgia.

samarye · 2012-03-26T08:36:45+00:00

tl;dr: False alarm. The bill does not specify that only women in shelters will be exempt from testing; it says any individual in a domestic violence shelter is exempt.

From the text proposed for for (Senate Bill 292): "(b) Not later than July 1, 2013, the Department of Human Services shall institute a drug testing program for applicants of TANF benefits who are 18 years of age or older, excluding individuals who are receiving TANF benefits based on being victims of domestic violence and are residing in a domestic violence shelter. The drug testing program for TANF benefits shall require that a drug test be administered to each applicant for TANF benefits prior to the receipt of any such benefits."

It took some digging to find the actual bill involved (SB 292, same as linked above). The article's references to women in domestic violence shelters does not reflect the content of the bill, and the title of this post is even more inflammatory. I don't necessarily expect the OP to do this kind of background checking, but it's pathetic that the journalists reported on the law without even reading it. For what it's worth, House Bill 861, which also deals with the same policy of drug testing for welfare recipients, makes no mention of a domestic violence exception.

Edit: Inequities in the effects of this bill are likely because of underlying reality of who actually has access to domestic violence shelters in Georgia, but that is an issue in and of itself; the bill as written is not sexist.

2012-03-26T02:21:26+00:00

Institutional Sexism at its very finest.

curious67 · 2012-03-26T03:49:33+00:00

On Wednesday, members of the House Judiciary Civil committee voted to exempt women in domestic violence shelters from having to take drug tests to get welfare payments. Critics of the testing plan had argued that abused women sometimes cope by abusing drugs and may be hesitant to leave a violent partner if they do not have financial support.

The argument seems a little plausible BUT

a) it does not explain why men would not eqaully be afraid to leave violent relationships, and why men would not take drugs to get over an abusive wife. ..... I forgot, women don't abuse and commit domestic violence. Main dogma of feminism, VAWA, and John Biden

b) if government really wants to pay welfare to drug addicted women, what about at least testing them and making the money conditional on participation in drug rehab?

After all, men need to take all kind of anti-violence therapies on the mere accusation of a woman that they shoved her back then the woman punched them.

Lucaribro · 2012-03-26T05:05:17+00:00

Fucking Georgia. This place has the most ass backwards drug laws to begin with, and I'm not just saying that because I spent most of st. Patty's weekend in the clink for misdemeanor possession.

NiceGuysSTFU · 2012-03-26T00:39:21+00:00

No one should be drug tested for such benefits,

Title	Legislators exempt only women, from taking drug tests before getting welfare payments in domestic violence shelters in the U.S. state of Georgia.
Author	eyeofthestorm
Upvotes	124
Comments	50
Date	March 25, 2012 11:42 PM UTC (14 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/rdcwy/legislators_exempt_only_women_from_taking_drug/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/legislators-exempt-only-women-from-taking-drug.1025293 https://theredarchive.com/post/1025293

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