Jan 29, 2019

For years, victims of child sexual abuse traveled to New York's Capitol to share painful stories of the trauma they suffered in hopes of convincing lawmakers to relax the statute of limitations on crimes against children.

On Monday, four state lawmakers shared intensely personal stories of their own.

During a long-sought vote on the Child Victims Act, three Assembly members and one senator rose to publicly discuss their own experiences of being abused as children and the challenge of processing the grief and suffering that continues to manifest itself to this day.

One by one, they stood to share the painful memories of some of the most traumatic experiences of their lives as their colleagues listened and cameras rolled.

"It is probably one of the most important things I will do in my life. And I mean that sincerely because a lot of the times, anybody who is the victim of trauma will keep it silent," Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, D-Pelham, Westchester County, said Tuesday, a day after the dramatic vote.

"The antidote to silence is to speak about it, but it’s not as easy as it looked. I think that’s the message to send to everyone who was watching."

It was a powerful finale to the years-long effort to pass the Child Victims Act, which, until late last week, had drawn significant opposition from the Catholic Church that helped keep it from being put to a vote.

The Senate approved the measure 63-0. The Assembly approved it 130-3.

Biaggi, who took office in January, told her story first, rising on the Senate floor and declaring: "I am a sexual abuse survivor and this bill is incredibly important to me."

She spoke of how victims remain silent as they deal with the trauma of the abuse, as she did for nearly 25 years.

On the other side of the Capitol, Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, D-Brooklyn, rose to speak soon after, detailing how a pastor she trusted violated her at the age of 10 when she was recovering from being hit by a car.

"At 10 years old, a pastor touched me — the one who prayed on me, for me while I was recovering from a major accident that almost took my life," Bichotte said. "I was bedridden. I was vulnerable. I felt ugly. And I was taken advantage (of) as a result."

It was a story Bichotte first recounted on the Assembly floor in 2017, when the Child Victims Act was first put to a vote in the Legislature's lower chamber.

On Monday, she thanked her fellow victims and advocates of the measure.

"The passing of this bill is a victory for them, it means a victory for me," Bichotte said Monday. "We're telling everyone that we're not alone."

As Bichotte finished her speech and sat down, Manhattan Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou rose to speak next.

"I don't talk about this a lot," Niou said.

She was 13 years old and he was a teacher, Niou said. Later, she found out he preyed on another girl, which is what led her to speak out — first in private to her Democratic colleagues last year, and later in public on Monday.

"I can still smell him. I can still smell what he smells like," she said through tears.

"It's not something I like to bring up because it's something that's so shameful and so horrible and so traumatic of an experience. To me, and to so many of the victims, it's really, really hard to bring up, it's so hard to talk about, for so many reasons."

Niou said she told her story publicly in hopes of changing the minds of those who were considering voting against the bill.

"Instead of just explaining my vote, I hope to turn your votes," she said. "I hope that I convince some of you that maybe, maybe this is the right thing, to ensure that more and more we have awareness that we have to protect our children."

Minutes later, Queens Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz told her story for the first time in public.

She said she was abused as a child by a family member, saying she knows "all too well the everyday pain, the trauma and despair of survivors" as well as their "physical and emotional scars."

"It's taken me years and this is the first time I publicly speak about my story, because there may be no greater act before us this session as (elected officials) than to speak about our own truth when our communities can't," Cruz, a Democrat, said.

She said the Child Victims Act can "begin to right the wrongs for so many."

"Justice can finally be realized at every level for us," Cruz said. "This is about the safety of little boys and little girls everywhere. Our job is to protect them, not to protect an institution or any institution that has frankly done too little, too late."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has vowed to sign the Child Victims Act, which would allow allow victims to seek criminal charges against their abuser until they turn 28 for felony cases.

For civil cases, victims would be able to file claims until they turn 55. And in six months, victims will have a one-year, one-time-only window to file civil claims regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.

On Tuesday morning, Cuomo said he hadn't watched the vote the night before. But he said the stories dozens of victims have shared over the years should have spurred action much sooner.

Democrats took control of the state Senate this year after a decade of Republican control. During their time in power, the GOP declined to put the bill to a vote.

[We should maybe look into the Republicans who opposed changing the law.]

Cuomo said child abuse is an "epidemic" that the state had to acknowledge before figuring out how to solve it.

"You don't need four legislators yesterday to talk about child abuse. We've had child assault victims come through this Capitol for years telling their stories," Cuomo said.

"I've sat with dozens telling their stories. We knew long before yesterday that it was a problem. We were in denial and the first obstacle is getting past the denial."

Biaggi said it was not easy to get up on the Senate floor and talk about her personal experience. But she said it was important to show that victims should speak publicly about what happened to them, so it can be prevented in the future.

She said she was heartened that others spoke up, too, which was her hope from the beginning.

"I felt less alone," Biaggi said after hearing her colleagues. "And that’s exactly the point. I spoke because I wanted other people to feel less alone, and when I left the chamber and realized three other women stood up, I then felt less alone."

WHAT THE CHILD VICTIM ACT DOES

The Child Victims Act willl do three major things:

+ Extend New York's statute of limitations to allow for criminal charges against sexual abusers of children until their victims turn 28 for felony cases, up from the current 23.

+ Allow victims to seek civil action against their abusers and institutions that enabled them until they turn 55.

+ Open up a one-year, one-time-only period to allow all victims to seek civil action, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.

Please read my previous post about the Child Victims Act with more info:

NY Lawmakers To Pass Child Victims Act On Monday