The justifications offered for this lesser protection (e.g., family privacy, victim refusal to testify, officer safety) do not further 'important governmental interests,' as that phrase has been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court. Further, the Court has held that sex discriminatory classification systems are prohibited by the equal protection clause. Even when facially neutral, police classification of domestic assault is based on stereotypic attitudes toward women and reflects a covert form of sex discrimination. As such, it should be subject to intermediate scrutiny by courts evaluating equal protection claims. In Thurman v. City of Torrington, the Connecticut court held that police conduct treating victims of domestic violence differently from other assault victims constituted gender-based discrimination violative of the equal protection clause. This decision is an important step toward legal recognition of the rights of domestic assault victims to obtain protection from the police and courts. 156 footnotes.