CAMPAIGN: Denim Day Events Promote Rape-Awareness Programs

Blue jeans will be the style of the day today as Southland residents take part in Denim Day in LA & USA, a campaign to raise awareness about rape and sexual violence.

The group Peace Over Violence started Denim Day in Los Angeles and across the United States in 1999 when an Italian court overturned a rape conviction partially because the victim was wearing tight jeans - something the justices reasoned the suspect couldn't have removed without the victim's help.

Peace Over Violence estimates that more than 2 million people are expected to take part in local events, which will include presentations by organizers at city halls in Los Angeles and West Hollywood. The group is partnering in this year's events with 1in6.org, a group supporting adult male survivors of sexual abuse.

Student assemblies and events will also be held at a variety of school campuses, including San Gabriel, Manual Arts and Fairfax high schools and the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex and Young Oak Kim Academy.

Patti Giggans, executive director of Peace Over Violence, and Steve LePore, head of 1in6, will testify before the Los Angeles City Council on the issue of sexual violence and violence prevention. Leona Smith, POV's director of counseling services, will speak to the West Hollywood City Council.

Also in West Hollywood, city employees will wear denim to work and gather outside City Hall at 10 a.m. for an annual group
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In conjunction with the event, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck will hold a news conference to provide an update on the LAPD's effort to work through a testing backlog of DNA rape kits.