Maureen Reagan criticises U.S. Govt action

Press, 15 July 1985, Page 16

Maureen Reagan criticises U.S. Govt action

NZPA-AP Washington

President Reagan’s daughter, Maureen, has criticised the United States Attorney-General, Mr Edwin Meese, for withholding a $U5625,000 (s.3million) grant to a group that runs shelters for battered women because conservatives have asserted that the group promotes lesbianism.

“That is patently absurd,” Ms Reagan said of Mr Meese’s action.

Her comment came at a recent State Department briefing on the international women’s conference in Nairobi. Ms Reagan, a feminist activist, is chairman of

the United States delegation.

After Ms Reagan had identified family violence as one of four topics the United States wants discussed at the conference, a reporter asked what she thought of Mr Meese’s action.

“That’s the same kind of problem that we have had over the years by people who refer to shelters for battered women as R and R (rest and relaxation) centres for bored housewives," she said. “The fact of the matter is that there is a very serious problem with domestic violence, not just of women but also of children, in this

country,” she said. “The problem with women is extremely severe because there are people in the United States and throughout the world who take the idea that it (domestic violence) comes with a marriage licence. It does not.”

Mr Meese took the grant under review when several conservatives, including some Congressmen, raised concerns that the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence was interested in promoting lesbian issues.