Child Sex Abuse Survivors and Advocates Demand Justice

LONG ISLAND, NY – Child sex abuse survivors and advocates held two protests on Friday – one outside the home of Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and the other outside Senator Elaine Phillips' Mineola office.

New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators and CHILD USA protesters started the day of action in front of Senator Flanagan’s East Northport home early Friday morning, demanding the senator stop blocking a bill that would provide justice to victims of child sex abuse. The group of advocates and survivors are pushing for support of the Child Victims Act, a bill that would expand the statute of limitations for criminal and civil action against child predators.

The second protest was held Friday afternoon outside the Mineola office of Senator Elaine Phillips over her refusal to support the bill.

In the State of New York, most victims are barred from filing criminal and civil claims once they turn 23 years old. The Child Victims Act expands the criminal and civil statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse cases and will create a 1-year “window" for previously unaddressed civil claims to be heard in court.

Both senators have been an active part of a Senate GOP effort to block the bill from a vote. The budget released by the Senate GOP conference omitted the provision, despite its inclusion in both the Governor’s and Assembly’s budget bills.

New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators has been waging an aggressive campaign to get members of the Republican State Senate to compel their leadership to support passage if the Child Victims Act.

The protests come on the heels of a series of district-based press events, automated calls, online digital ads, a Quinnipiac poll showing 90% of New Yorkers support the bill, and actors Corey Feldman and Julianne Moore weighing in publicly on its behalf.