April 26, 2017
Josh Edelson/AP
Joe Biden gives a speech at the HRC Los Angeles Gala on Saturday, March 22, 2014.
Former Vice President Joe Biden took the stage at George Mason University on Wednesday to deliver a powerful message – both men and women have an obligation to help end sexual assault.
Biden spoke at the Virginia college as part of his "It's On Us" campaign, a national effort launched by the former vice president and former President Barack Obama to spread awareness toward ending sexual assault on college campuses across the nation.
“Our society is going to be judged by future generations about our civility and our decency,” Biden said to the crowd, according to the Huffington Post. “One of the measures we’re going to be looked at is how did we deal with this issue? There is never a culture of justification for any of this. Brutality is brutality. Human rights are basic. I don’t care what’s your religion ― no religion, no culture can be sustained or should be tolerated that says it’s OK to abuse another human being.”
Biden was joined by Alisha Boe and Joy Gorman, the actress and producer behind the hit Netflix original series, "13 Reasons Why" during the event that was announced on April 20.
.@JoeBiden and @13ReasonsWhy’s @AlishaBoe raise awareness of sexual violence on college campuses https://t.co/W7h50YwwGO
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) April 26, 2017
“Both men and women have an obligation to help survivors in any way they can,” Biden said, according to HuffPost.
It's not the first time in recent months that Biden has spoken out against the issue. The former vice president who hails from Delaware said bystanders sexual assault are "cowards" in an interview with Teen Vogue two weeks ago.
Since leaving his role at the White House, the former U.S. senator has been named the Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor at the University of Pennsylvania where he'll head the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.
He'll have an office on the University City campus but will be based out of Washington, D.C.
Read Huffington Post's coverage of Wednesday event here.
