Protective bill renewed
Adult survivors would gain time and support to deal with trauma of abuse.
With the Legislature finally passing the state budget after several months of intense effort, advocates for the Adult Survivors Act are hoping for a renewed push to pass the legislation in the remaining weeks of the 2021 session.
“I am hopeful as we enter this spring and become more open in our legislative process with vaccinations that this is a moment of rebirth for this effort,” said Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, that bill’s sponsor in her chamber. She was also the sponsor of the Child Victims Act, which opened up a window for previously time-barred child sexual abuse civil claims. More than 5,000 lawsuits have been filed under that law, many against the Catholic church, the Boy Scouts and other groups that cared for children.
The argument for the Adult Survivors Act — similar to the one for the CVA — is that people who experience abuse are traumatized by the experience, and it often takes them years or even decades to come to grips with what happened, putting them outside of the statute of limitations in many cases.
“When you’re 18 and this happens to you, your whole world is turned upside down,” Rosenethal said. “We need to acknowledge ... how trauma takes a long time to deal with.”
If the bill is passed by the Legislature, it would put Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in an awkward position: He stands accused of sexual misconduct by a number of women, with their claims ranging from unwanted hugs and kisses in public to allegedly grooming a staffer half his age for months and then forcing himself upon her, a potentially criminal act.
“The spotlight is bright, and it’s hot right now on topics like this. I think that our immediate concern is not a veto or whether the governor signs it, it’s getting the bills to the floor in each house,” said Sen. Brad Hoylman, that chamber’s sponsor, adding that he would expect “given everything that’s going on (Cuomo) would be eager to sign it.”
The Assembly and Senate versions of the bill have not received hearings yet, but Rosenthal and Hoylman said the measure has broad support and faces less organized opposition than the CVA did. They’re hopeful about it receiving a floor vote in the near future. The bill is before the Judiciary Committee in the Senate, which Hoylman chairs, and he said it’s expected to take a step forward soon.
“I think in previous years it might have been more of an uphill battle,” Rosenthal said, “but I think given all the developments in this state with Harvey Weinstein and all the other predators, most people have working knowledge of this.”
Advocates held a press conference for the ASA on Thursday morning, joined by Rosenthal and Hoylman and survivors of sexual abuse who called for the bill’s passage. Evelyn Yang, who is married to former presidential candidate and current New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang, discussed the abuse she endured a decade ago at the hands of her doctor, who she said targeted hundreds of women.
“I know how it feels to hold a terrible truth and decide to speak it out loud. It takes time,” Yang said. “If and when someone chooses to come forward, their pathway to justice should not be time barred or limited to results from a fraught criminal justice system. Survivors deserve an opportunity to be heard in their own time.”
Robert Bender said he had been abused about 40 years ago while he was in college. The perpetrator was someone he looked up to, he said, a former Olympic athlete. Bender said his abuser was manipulative and used a variety of efforts to “contort the mind” of his victims; for instance, the man targeted young heterosexual men to take advantage of the confusion they would feel about what happened to them.
“It’s a mistake to say or believe that just because you turn 18 all of a sudden you have the sophistication or the wherewithal to defend yourself against these professional abusers,” Bender said. “I remember thinking 30 years ago, ‘Oh, it’s been 10 years and there’s probably a statute of limitations and there’s nothing I can do about it.’ Maybe now that will change.”