Statement by the Vice President on the Departure of Lynn Rosenthal

Lynn has made ending the scourge of violence against women the cause of her life. She was there as an advocate in the trenches when I wrote the Violence Against Women Act twenty years ago. She was there when President Obama and I were sworn into office, and my first request was to have Lynn made the first-ever White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. She was there when we reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act over the years—working to prevent domestic violence homicides and extending protections to Native American women, and LGBT Americans. She worked with me to reach a new generation of young women and to get men involved in speaking out about abuse.

For more than 20 years she has been there—leading national organizations, building state coalitions, training new advocates, safeguarding our workplaces, and most recently, advising the President and me with her characteristic dignity and an unwavering determination. While she is leaving the White House, I know she will continue to be a passionate voice for the right of every woman—and every person—on the planet to be free from violence and abuse. That's the right that measures who we are as a country—and it is what measures the work of Lynn's life.