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August 8, 2013

Report: Bob Filner Targeted Military Sexual Assault Victims for Harassment 
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More women have come forward with sexual harassment claims against San
Diego Mayor Bob Filner. Thirteen women have now publicly accused Filner
of unwanted sexual behavior ranging from verbal remarks to groping.
According to CNN, at least eight of the women are military veterans,
most of whom were victims of sexual assault while serving. Retired Air
Force Master Sergeant Eldonna Fernandez, who was raped three times while
in the military, says she was speaking last year at an event for the
National Women's Veterans Association of America, a group that supports
survivors of military sexual assault, when Filner, then a U.S.
congressmember, made unwanted advances. Filner had formerly served as
head of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Fernandez told CNN she
believes he targeted survivors specifically.

Eldonna Fernandez: "We're all victims of military sexual assault. And it
appears to me that he was targeting this organization and hitting on the
women in this organization because they were easy prey. So he's part of
an organization that's against sexual assault and sexual violence
towards women and sexual harassment but he's doing the very thing that
we are fighting to make stop in our service and and in our country."

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is reportedly completing a number of new
rules to address rampant sexual assault in the military after a Pentagon
survey estimated 26,000 people in the armed forces were sexually
assaulted last year.

 

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