She was a soldier whose murder sparked nationwide outrage and became known as the Army's #MeToo.
Now the "I Am Vanessa Guillén Act" aims to change the way sexual assault investigations are handled in the military. Vanessa Guillén's sister speaks to Brut ...
Now the "I Am Vanessa Guillén Act" aims to change the way sexual assault investigations are handled in the military. Vanessa Guillén's sister speaks to Brut ...
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00:00I was very proud to see my sister in uniform when she would arrive every weekend at home.
00:05And with everything that happened, I lost all that honor, all that hope that I had in our military.
00:30Now is the time to say, I am Vanessa Gillian.
00:38Now is the time to say, I've been hurt.
00:40I was harassed.
00:41I know everything that I do today will not return my sister, but it will save lives.
01:00Pretty much, these different scenarios led up to her being very uncomfortable while serving
01:16and wanting to either find a way to fix the problem, which in this case, she had no way
01:22to do so because, again, the person who she was supposed to report to was the same person
01:28causing the damage.
01:46The findings of the committee identified major flaws with sexual harassment and assault
01:51response prevention program from implementation, reporting, and adjudication.
01:58And finally, a command climate at Fort Hood that was permissive of sexual harassment and
02:04sexual assault.
02:13She was always like very, the tomboy of the family and, you know, not just any girl wants
02:17to join the military, but that was her.
02:20And she wanted to somehow, you know, show honor to our family and, you know, serve for
02:26her country.
02:27At this point, my parents were immigrants.
02:30So she wanted to prove what can be done as coming from an immigrant family.
02:39I saw somebody post up on Twitter that they were raped at Fort Sam in their A school.
02:50And then I posted up right below her and then another girl and another girl.
02:55And the next thing I knew, there were almost a dozen of us when I had to verify my rape
03:01that actually happened because I was too intoxicated to tell my story.
03:08They asked me, how did I know it happened?
03:11And I asked the person in class the next day, his line was, yeah, it happened.
03:18You were so cute.
03:19I just had you.
03:20Wow.
03:21That's sick.
03:22I thought I was over it until I saw Vanessa.
03:37In 2013, I was sexually harassed by my NCO, Staff Sergeant.
03:44I went to my leadership because at the time I was in training, went to everyone above
03:48me and they all told me that he denied everything.
03:55They swept it under the rug.
03:56I couldn't wait to read some of the stories and there was just so many of them.
04:00And that was what basically was needed to for it to be proven that it wasn't like a
04:07solidary action.
04:09It's happened various of times over decades and we're now seeing that because of Vanessa,
04:15this was, you know, able to be changed.
04:39The bill pretty much, it takes the problem away from the chain of command because nine
04:46out of 10, the aggressor belongs, it is in the chain of command.
04:49It's a shame to see that the people who you're supposed to go and ask for help were the ones
04:54that are causing the damage.
04:56So in this case, the bill would provide a safe route for the report.
05:01It makes, you know, sexual harassment a crime, which surprisingly it wasn't a crime already
05:05in the military justice uniform code.
05:09We didn't get the bill 100% as we had asked for.
05:21So we will keep working on that and basically make sure hopefully that there's a claims
05:28act included because we think that it's only fair for the victim for being treated so unjustly
05:35to be able to get compensated because of her so many lives will be saved.
05:41Because if you see it one way, the sexual harassment, if it's ongoing and if it doesn't
05:48end up in a murder, the victim generally thinks about suicide as not the same person that
05:56they were before.
05:57So basically their lives get ruined one way or the other and they can't serve in peace
06:03anymore.
06:04So basically, I mean, her legacy has been to save lives in the military and hopefully
06:12save all those victims that felt like they weren't heard before in the past.