My mother physically abused me until about the age of 12 or 13.
I was 45 until I was able to admit this to myself, no less someone else.
31
I also cry when I think of the poor 12 year old being abused and being ashamed to talk about it. The abuse makes his life so much more difficult. So glad the new law passed.
25
The love of a mother is a powerful thing.
32
She deserves the Kennedy -sponsored “Profile in Courage “ award.
48
This is why we need politicians who weren't born with silver spoons in their mouths... experience is the surest way people can understand others' problems and when in power, harness their energies into providing solutions for these issues that benefit society as a whole.
40
So much has been said on this issue. But she passed legislation!
Way to go, ms Markey! You are a heroine, and I hope to see this law replicated in every state.
41
A mother who deeply loved her abused son and boys and girls like him enough to seek justice. How proud her son must be in that this law was finally passed! Shame on those religious leaders and nonprofit groups who block its passage for so many years!
52
I want to thank YOU personally, Ms. Markey, for your decade-long work and tenacity against tremendous odds to improve the chances for justice for all victims past and present, very much including your beloved son.
While not a sex-abuse victim myself, fortunately, I suffered physical abuse as a child for 12 years.
The Sisyphus reference in the article recalled a suggestion I read recently (sadly, I forget the writer) that struck me as so profound it immediately caught my breath and I nearly wept; I think it applies here.
Imagine Sisyphus happy.
44
Thank you, Mrs. Markey, and your son and husband. You are courageous and righteous. And thank you, Linda Rosenthal, for picking up the bill and continuing the fight for its passage.
80
Worked on CVA legislation for 8 years as a member of Call to Action, a group of Catholic laypersons who made passage of CVA a priority. The Church fought this bill vigorously, spent millions and showed little sympathy for victims regardless of the source of their abuse. We felt embarrassed, disgraced and angry at the Church for their conduct.
Marge Markey gave life to this bill for her many years in the Assembly only to run in to total opposition in the GOP Senate. She did all she could do and truly deserves a chapter in “Profiles in Courage.”
87
The Catholic church is an evil institution and proved it when it challenged those who wanted these crimes to be exposed and the church held to account!
71
Shes my hero! I admire her so much. We need the laws changed here in IL so my brothers abuser can be put away.
Instead, the Christian Brothers have allowed him to work with kids, one job after another, for 40 years now.
65
What a brave, brave person Mrs. Markey is.
44
Kudos Mrs. Markey. You are one remarkable woman. Continued healing to you, your son, your family and all those affected by this scurge.
43
Thank you so much Mrs. Markey for your courage & remarkably tenacity. I am so glad you lived to see this remarkable day which you began many years ago to change the law to help so many wronged children.
I admire you.
43
Some victims bury the memories very deep. It's painful to relive them. Some take drugs to dull the pain. Some escape in another way. One of the realities of the Opioid crisis is that many of the addicts have been traumatized. Read a book: "The Deepest Well". Written by a pediatrician it details the effects of Adverse Childhood Events (ACE) that affect the sufferer lifelong.
24
"Several times, the legislation passed in the Assembly by a wide margin. But then it would collide with powerful opposition: the insurance industry, the Roman Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts of America. The Senate never even took it up for a vote."....
"After it passed, Catholic officials were among those praising it. “Their witness has moved us all,” a statement from the state’s bishops, led by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said, referring to the victims who had shared their stories. “We renew our commitment to combating the monstrous crime of childhood sexual abuse and helping all survivors find recourse and reconciliation as they heal.”
13
In some ways, I am not shocked by the depths to which institutions would stoop to defend their interests but in other ways I am appalled. Why would the Boy Scouts block such legislation? Do they too have a list of offenders? Certainly any organization serving people. -- of any age, gender, sex, etc. - will be at risk of potential sexual assault cases but to ACTIVELY oppose this legislation is nuts. Similarly, the insurance industry - who are the protecting? Where's the list? Can a company insure against sexual assault, a crime? Something is wrong with this picture. Follow the lobbying.
53
I wish we collectively better understood the very valid reasons people often wait years or decades to report abuse. We'd rethink our responses to it.
People are traumatized (huge impact on ability to think clearly and rationally); they often know they'll not be believed or dismissed; they know they don't have 'evidence'; their abuser has status or wealth or power on a personal or professional level; the abuser threatens to cause further harm to parents, siblings or pets if the abuse is revealed, etc.
It's so complicated and yet people say, "Just report." As if that's easy, will automatically be taken seriously, and non-traumatizing in itself (ever been through a forensic rape exam immediately after being assaulted? Or been asked by detectives if you 'just like rough sex?' if you have bruises from being raped? We need a better understanding of all of these nuances. Simply yelling "Due Process" (for the alleged perpetrator) is not enough. Victims need due process from the very beginning. Including actually processing those rape kits sitting on shelves.
53
She is indeed a brave and determined woman. She understands, as many of us do, that childhood sexual abuse is devastating and scars for life. There should be no statute of limitations on such a serious crime....the violation of a child's body and also an assault on their soul. Thank you Ms Markey.
51
What it is with the Catholic Church and its ardent supporters that they think that abuse by the church is somehow not abuse? What can you say about an organization that has so many sexual abusers working for them?
42
@Andrew Macdonald: Yes. And with sports organizations, too, like Nassar and Sandusky. This takes place in a lot of powerful institutions and people look the other way.
31
There should be no statute of limitations for child sexual abuse. None.
77
@Gardengirl Yes, please eliminate the statute of limitations for reporting and prosecuting child sexual abuse. It's the only true justice. It sometimes takes decades for victims to be able to out themselves for having suffered sexual abuse and its serious lifelong effects.
25
wish this to be the law in every state, but glad to see progress in any
31
Thank you, Mrs. Markey, for being a righteous person and standing up for the victims against the powerful...
It was a hard choice, as I well know, having grown up in the same area which had a tightly knit and church supportive population.
You did right by your son, by the other victims and for all of us.
We applaud you and your fortitude!
98
Marge Markey took the seat of my former boss Rep. Joseph Crowley in Albany. She was always a committed public servant and to see this legislation become law after she left Albany is a true accomplishment. It's a testament to her tenacity, and the legacy she leaves to Queens and most importantly to her family. While she might be suffering from mental health issues, I hope she can take pride in seeing her legislation signed into law by the Governor.
55
@Chris McCannell
Dementia is not a Mental Health Issue.
11
@w_michael_slattery fair point, I was trying to be sensitive but I guess saying the true disease is the most accurate.
18
Dementia is not a specific disease. Mental illnesses are just brain-based disorders that affect cognition, mood, and behavior. As researchers learn more about these disorders, and find the neurobiological causes for autism, schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, Alzheimer’s, PTSD, concussion syndrome, etc, hopefully the stigma associated with the unfortunate and outdated term “mental illness” will be replaced by something more accurate and scientific. But for now, yes dementia is considered a mental illness.
9
The usual pablum from the Catholic officials and yet the crimes of sexual abuse continue at the hands of the church.
33
Such doubletalk from Cardinal Dolan. He fought this bill tooth and nail, going to the point of spending $1.8 million of the Church’s money to fight it. Then he acts like it was his idea.
Dolan is the personification of how morally bankrupt the Church’s leadership is.
I was raised Catholic but left the Church nearly 30 years ago. No regrets. Encourage everyone else to do the same. The path to heaven (if there is one) cannot run through priests who protect child molesters and force nuns to get abortions. If it does, then I want no part of that heaven.
189
@Sterling: Couldn't have said it better! The most hypocritical religion of all time and the master of creating guilt complexes onto its followers. Blind obedience and loyalty at all cost , its not a religion its a cult!
46
I think this was the right thing to do, but I wonder if it will make any difference. It's going to be hard to prove something that happened decades ago.
More needs to be done to get people (children AND adults) to speak up immediately when they have been sexually abused. Only then will perpetrators be convicted for - or even better, deterred from - abusive acts.
7
@J. Waddell: Or to ensure more people better understand the effects and impact of trauma so that we *understand* why people don't 'immediately' come forward. There are many valid reasons why people remain silent (or only tell certain people) for weeks, years, or decades after the abuse.
40
@J. Waddell
I suggest that you read up on the mental and emotional problems that come with the sexual abuse of children. Then you will understand why the victim does not immediately come forth with an accusation. Or perhaps you could just read the Times regularly and get an education that way.
19
Thank you for reporting this article. And even more thanks to Mrs. Markey, and the Markey son who was abused as a 7th and 8th grader, for their courage in seeing this through from the time Mr. Markey was able to tell others about the abuse, until now.
69
The U.S. Constitution prohibits Ex Post Facto laws: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/ex_post_facto
Will this legislation be ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court?
Just wondering.
4
@jbartelloni Possibly. In Stogner v. California, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 split decision held that "a law enacted after expiration of a previously applicable limitations period violates the Ex Post Facto Clause when it is applied to revive a previously time-barred prosecution." The question then is whether the new New York law avoids the conflict in Stogner.
5
@jbartelloni I don’t believe that applies. An ex post facto law refers to a law about something that was not illegal at the time. You can’t be charged if it was not illegal when you committed the act. The assaults on these children were always illegal. It’s that they were not prosecuted at the time because the children were afraid to come forward or their parents were discouraged by the church from going to prosecutors.
43
@jbartelloni That would apply if it had been legal for an adult to have sexual contact with a 12 year old boy in the 80's. It was not, so this is irrelevant.
22
How is it that the institutions that people trust with little children are the ones opposed to this bill? OMG unfathomable.
111
@Orion: They are well aware of what's been hidden for decades.
32
Marge Markey is true pioneer of children's rights and those of sexual abuse survivors. She raised the injustice of New York's draconian statute of limitations before the issue was the front page news it is today. The she started this effort she battled the NYS Catholic Conference and its high paid lobbyists virtually on her own. The bill should really have been called the Marge Markey Child Victims Act. Hats off to you Assembly member Markey.
68
Thank you, Mrs. Markey! You and your family have helped to shine a light on the most evil darkness imaginable. You are a hero! God be with you all.
30
I wish this had been in place in the 1970's. Sadly, no one in my neighborhood would ever believe that a well respected and popular local butcher shop owner would have ever molested me. He died the same day my beloved Grandfather passed away. I cried more at the butcher's funeral because I was glad that I would never, ever, have to walk into his shop again and feel the disgusting gaze of that lecherous man's eyes on me again.
52
@SweetestAmyC How very cruel. No one should suffer like this. Hopefully, the results of this long overdue change will reduce some pain.
12
Your article neglected to mention that the Catholic Church dropped its opposition to the legislation when it was amended to include public institutions. That was not the case in the past.
It has always been an issue of fairness to all victims of abuse,
most of whom went through public schools, etc.
5
@tomdalbro This is a mischaracterization of what the Church did. The bill always included public institutions, though, the language was ambiguous. The Church always proposed amendments to the bill that were "poison pills" in order to look supportive but actually lower the chances of it getting passed. Once the truth came out and the bill's passage was inevitable, the Church had no choice but to pretend they were for it all along. If you look at the history of how Cardinal Dolan has dealt with this issue in the past, both in NY and in his previous positions, you can't help but see the disingenuousness of these claims.
90
Margaret Markey is a true hero. This is what a politician, a public servant, is supposed to be - fighting to help people.
188
Thank you to her and her family. As someone who worked the last 20 years in a nursing home, many of our residents would express the trauma of being sexually abused and dealt with it in their senior years robbing their dignity by the reality that it was too late to do anything about it.
She’s is a straight up warrior and I pray for her and her family. God is opening the gates and saying, “well done”. I will never forget her. Trust me.
115
God bless this woman.
79
Sexual abuse is so common among those who have power over children, that there is most likely no religious institution, school, camp, scouting type organizations, or children's shelters where this is not going on. I hope that many of the past victims will get some vindication and the present victims will be more likely to speak up.However, I know it is a difficult subject.
I am not saying that my story is anyway in the same class of sexual offense, but it took me 45 years to tell my mother about a man who drove around in a red truck exposing himself. If I had phoned the police that day, they would have picked him up within 10 minutes. We lived in a small town with lots of cops. I hope he did not graduate to rape.
It is only speaking out right away that will catch the predator before he harms others. Maybe this bill will give others courage to point fingers at the perps, knowing they are not alone in being victims.
70
A profile in courage, indeed. Inspiring and heartbreaking at the same. Kudos to the entire family!
110
May we all have even a little of Ms. Markey's courage to right the wrong. It's so easy to look the other way, to dismiss what we don't want to believe is true. When I confided to my sister that my brother had tried to assault me . . . she blamed me. I wasn't physically harmed, but the horror will last forever. The tragic odds are, one day a child you know may need your help. Don't let her -- or him -- down.
135
A thoughtful and well written article. Peace and love to the entire family. Yes, profiles in courage to everyone in this family.
92