A Blog

#KidsToo – where’s that outrage?

May 8, 2018 by Brian Toale Leave a Comment

Another man in a position of power over people has shocked us with alleged abuses of that power. Why does it surprise us anymore? And why should we be surprised that since the gates have opened up on reporting these abuses, they have become a flood, with no person too powerful to prevent being swept away? These days it would be surprising to find someone who hasn’t been abusive in some way when there was a significant inequity, be it of wealth, celebrity, influence, authority or simply strength.

The same disparity that enables exploitations like this to occur also keeps them from getting exposed. This is how it has always been. Except now the balance of power has shifted. There is strength in numbers and courage inspires yet more courage. The flood is far from over and hopefully will continue until a true shift in society’s passive acceptance of this kind of behavior is finally burned away.

What should be shocking to everyone is …

How many more need to suffer?

May 3, 2018 by Brian Toale Leave a Comment

As a survivor of child sexual abuse turned advocate for the Child Victims Act (“CVA”), I have been encouraged each of the three years since I joined the almost 15-year-old cause. Positive developments are happening earlier in each successive Albany legislative session.

Last year Governor Cuomo announced support (albeit somewhat tepid), followed by a late entry program bill. The Assembly passed the CVA by an overwhelming bipartisan majority. This year the Governor included it in his executive budget as did the Assembly. And possibly as a result of polling giving the CVA a 90% approval by the people of New York, including healthy majorities of both Catholics and Republicans, even the Senate put in some vague language mentioning the topic but committing to nothing. As part of the larger issue of Public Safety, the first hearing touching on the topic of child sexual abuse ever was held in Albany….

Blah, blah, blah. Yada, yada, yada.

March 28, 2018 by Brian Toale Leave a Comment

Blah, blah, blah. Yada, yada, yada.

That might as well be what the Republicans have been saying for all the years they’ve blocked the Child Victims Act (“CVA”). Relying on a set of talking points (given them by lobbyists) they stall for time. By acknowledging that justice for survivors is an important issue they are studying, they try to placate activists. Then they qualify it by saying it is a more complicated issue than we imagine. Yet, they assure us, they are actively discussing it in conference and will come up with a solution that is fair to everyone, given enough time to do their job.

Time’s up – I call B.S.!

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See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me.

March 27, 2018 by Brian Toale Leave a Comment

Yesterday, an intrepid group of warriors supporting the New York State Child Victims Act (“CVA”), descended on the State Capital in Albany. Some were survivors of childhood sexual abuse, some were people of faith whose conscience told them something needed to change, and others who simply saw an injustice that they could no longer let stand. In one iteration or another, this “family” of advocates has been fighting for the CVA for more than a dozen years.

The enemies of the CVA have not changed their positions or arguments in all this time. They haven’t needed to because they never had to defend them. Classic David and Goliath. They just kept alluding to how this was a complicated issue and was being considered in conference. Blah, blah, blah. Yada, yada, yada. Frustrated past the point of anger, this band of sisters and brothers went to Albany to literally make themselves be seen and heard. They wanted to let Goliath know that David was taking out his slingshot….

The Catholic Church is to the Child Victims Act what the NRA is to ‘sensible gun reform’.

March 25, 2018 by Brian Toale Leave a Comment

As I was listening to the teenagers who so eloquently and passionately spoke at the March For Our Lives today, I realized there are a host of similarities between the efforts to reform gun laws and those to reform statutes of limitation for child sex abuse, especially now that the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who survived the mass shooting last month have elevated the issue in the consciousness of Americans voters….

An open letter to Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan

March 23, 2018 by Brian Toale Leave a Comment

Senator Flanagan, by now you must realize that New Yorkers have identified you as the one who has been scuttling the Child Victims Act (“CVA”) for all these years. We can see how, in your role as Senate Majority Leader, you’ve kept the CVA buried and out of public sight, even breaking your own Senate rules to prevent it getting a vote.

Fortunately, you’ve been doing this for so long that the talking points you use (lobbyist provided?) have expired. They are all debunked and dis-proven by empirical data collected from states that have passed reform bills with a look-back window like the one in the CVA. You don’t live in a bubble so you must know these things are true. You refuse to meet with survivors and advocates nor do you let the bill come to the floor of the Senate, because then you could no longer justify your obstruction. Your fellow Senators would then get an opportunity to argue for or against it on its merits, question subject matter experts, and hear public opinion….

Cardinal Dolan, why does the Child Victims Act terrify you so much?

March 21, 2018 by Brian Toale Leave a Comment

OMG, you poor thing!

What a miscarriage of justice it would be for the richest & most powerful institution the world has ever known to be forced to make amends for sex crimes against children & covering them up for decades. After moving sexual predators in your employ from one exploited hunting ground to the next unsuspecting one, destroying lives that might have been happily lived but for atrocities committed by so called men of God, you think you should get a free pass. That is the definition of chutzpah.

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Senate Republicans are lying about the Child Victims Act, and they know it!

March 14, 2018 by Brian Toale Leave a Comment

The leadership of the New York State Republican Senate does not really fear the things they say they fear. They are merely repeating the talking points given to them by the groups that are lobbying hard against the Child Victims Act (“CVA”).

New York State Sen. John DeFrancisco and Sen. John Flanagan talk at a news conference at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y

The only thing the Republican Senators fear is the Roman Catholic Bishops, and the insurance companies that put up millions of dollars to block the part of the legislation called the “look-back window”. Every time the Senate leadership repeats the reasons they cannot support the CVA they are not being truthful. Maybe they believed themselves 12 years ago when the effort to gain justice for survivors began in New York, but not any longer. There is more than enough empirical evidence and data, compiled from the many states that have passed similar legislation, to disprove these tired talking points and eliminate the doubts and fears they claim to have.

The Assembly in New York has passed a version of the CVA 5 times so far. But the Republican leadership in the Senate continues to avoid confronting the evidence by never allowing this bill to come to the floor for a vote. Credible expert testimony at an open Senate Hearing on this subject would annihilate the arguments they cling to and voters would be able to see how each and every one of their representatives cast their vote on an issue supported by over 90% of New Yorkers….

Who do you believe; the powerful or the vulnerable?

March 13, 2018 by Brian Toale Leave a Comment

My head wants to explode whenever I read about how the Catholic Church’s objections to the Child Victims Act (“CVA”) are based on preventing injustice to someone who might be falsely accused. Right, they’re just looking out for the little guy. exploding-head

This argument defies any and all credulity. In places where reforms to the statute of limitations have been enacted, the incidence of false claims has been so small that it isn’t worth considering, except to show how uncommon they are. This is especially pertinent since the very few false claims which are made rarely ever actually make it into a courtroom.

So, to prevent even that possibility, the enemies of the CVA are willing to deny justice to all survivors of past child sexual abuse, many (if not most) of whom have lived tragically challenging and painful lives as a result of it….

Who is Bill Donahue’s Catholic League truly in league with?

March 11, 2018 by Brian Toale Leave a Comment

Bill Donahue is at it again, or should I say still at it. Cardinal Dolan’s top troll is once again disfiguring the truth to tell the sad tale of the wealthiest and most influential institution the world has ever seen being mistreated by the greedy and unscrupulous survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Abuse that was known about, and to this day is being kept hidden by the elite hierarchy of the rich and powerful Roman Catholic Church, protecting themselves rather than our children….