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City of Glendale will support Sexual Assault Awareness Month with ‘Denim Day’

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To help raise awareness about sexual assault and prevent sexual violence, Glendale’s Commission on the Status of Women voted Monday to approve an official proclamation for Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April as well as promote the 19th annual Denim Day and associated fundraiser.

Mayor Vartan Gharpetian and City Council members will present a proclamation for the month of awareness and recognition of Denim Day to the commission on Tuesday.

Denim Day is a campaign organized by Los Angeles-based nonprofit Peace Over Violence, where supporters are asked to wear denim jeans to work.

The campaign originates from a 1998 decision by the Italian Supreme Court to overturn a 1992 rape conviction of a driving instructor for raping an 18-year-old girl, arguing that the sex was consensual because she had worn tight jeans and there would have been “active collaboration” to remove them.

The tight jeans alibi resulted in outrage, and women in the Italian Parliament protested by wearing jeans to work.

Similar support was then shown by legislators in the California Senate and Assembly, and in 1999, Patricia Giggans, executive director of Peace Over Violence, established Denim Day.

“[Peace Over Violence has] really owned it and done a great job with it, and the commission has supported it in years past,” said Christine Powers, a program supervisor with the city. “One aspect of this that the commission can participate in is by … letting city employees here wear denim … and let them go online and donate [to Peace Over Violence].”

Denim Day this year will be observed on April 25 in Los Angeles and Glendale.

According to the nonprofit’s website, donations will go toward services and education that teaches teenagers about healthy relationships, “train girls in self-defense, instruct boys in conflict resolution and advise on public policy.”

For the past five years, the commission has organized a Glendale specific fundraiser called “Dollars for Denim,” which has raised about $7,000 to benefit Peace Over Violence.

jeff.landa@latimes.com

Twitter: @JeffLanda

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