Men walk in heels to raise domestic violence awareness

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) – Just after six o’clock on Thursday evening, the crowd of 300-plus people left the courtyard at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando to begin their trek through downtown to bring awareness to the issue of domestic violence.

Tony Cordoza, the Board Chair for Harbor House and a Sr. V.P. for Bank of America, walked in high purple stilettos.

“What drives me is, I’m a man and I have a bigger responsibility to make sure I can get the word out about domestic violence,” he said, “because typically it’s men that are perpetrators of this and if I can enlighten more men on how they treat women and how it affects our community then I’m doing what I need to be doing!”

The Harbor House of Central Florida provides shelter, counseling, safety for those who are victims of abuse.
According to their statistics, one in three people will be abused by a partner.

For folks participating in this walk, wearing heels is just a fun way to bring attention to a tragic issue.

Michelle Sperzel with Harbor House said, “As far as domestic violence goes, it touches everyone.  It’s not just a man and woman.  It doesn’t see any gender, social economics, or color.   It happens to everybody.”

So everybody donned heels, “walking a mile in her shoes,” walking a mile in hopes of making big strides in the fight against domestic violence.

“This is my fourth year of doing this,” Cordoza added.

And when asked how his feet felt during the walk, Cordoza answered with a chuckle, “Good! They’re numb right now, so that’s a good thing!”