I get it. Politics are divisions that create rifts in families and relationships. Having firm political beliefs makes it difficult to see the ideals behind a law or policy. Personally, I do not want politics to become a conversation or point of contention for Our Stories Untold.

Yet, when governments, including the U.S. government, attempt to keep rights away from women—human beings created in God’s image—than I do feel it’s necessary to point out that the political conversation turns personal.

I am more than thrilled that today the VAWA passed the House by a vote of 286 to 138. This was the Senate-approved version of the bill that includes protections for LGBTQ, Native American, and undocumented victims of domestic and sexualized violence.

Seen on C-SPAN: U.S. House passes Violence Against Women Act through 2018, 286-138.

Originally passed in 1994, this law was created to help women who experience rape, sexualized violence, and domestic violence. Finding safety and justice are only a few of the important components of the VAWA. But 500 days ago the government let the Violence Against Women Act expire. And supposedly because of people’s political preferences, the law has been an issue of hot debate.

I question though: why is protecting women even an issue of debate? It shouldn’t matter what a woman’s sexual preference is, or whether or not she is on “our” land undocumented, or if she is of Native American, European, or Puerto Rican decent! All women, regardless, deserve protection.

The issue of not passing it was predominantly about patriarchal power and control. This was shown quite blatantly by the fact that in the Senate the 22 senators who voted against the bill were men, while the female Republican senators voted for it. Additionally, there were 9 Republican congressmen who stated that there was no version of VAWA that they would ever support, regardless of what it had to say.

The VAWA Act passing today is not an issue of politics—it’s an issue of humanity and creation and loving all God’s people equally. I will admit that I am liberal and progressive thinking, and therefore more likely to vote for a democrat (though in all honesty I’m way more into what the Green Party preaches than anything else). You can use that against me in this argument. But to do so would also be ignoring concrete spiritual truths preached not only by Jesus, but also by the Universe.

Rather than getting worked up in the specifics of labeling political views, let’s get worked up about the specifics of love and protection shown to all living creatures. And let’s celebrate the fact that today, love for all women won out.