Governor Hochul: “Today is about the survivors. It's about aligning the letter of the law with the pain in their hearts. It's about calling out vile and horrific acts for what they are so survivors can reclaim their power and dignity. It's about backing them with the full force of our justice system so those who commit rape are charged accordingly.”
Hochul: “As the first woman Governor of the State of New York, it's been my mission since day one to enact stronger protections for women in every walk of life. We've made New York a safe harbor for abortion, strengthened laws that take guns away from abusers, rooted out the culture of harassment in these hallowed halls of this very building and cleared the way for adult survivors to hold their abusers accountable. That mission continues today.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation to modernize New York State law to protect survivors of rape and hold perpetrators accountable for sexual assault. The legislation, S.3161/A.3340, updates the definition of rape in the penal code to ensure that additional forms of nonconsensual, forced sexual conduct can be prosecuted as rape. Since taking office, Governor Hochul has prioritized supporting survivors including by signing the Adult Survivors Act, implementing new protections for survivors of domestic violence, and cracking down on human trafficking.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available here.
PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
All right. Good morning. Good morning.
Today is about the survivors. It's about aligning the letter of the law with the pain in their hearts. It's about calling out vile and horrific acts for what they are so survivors can reclaim their power and dignity. It's about backing them with the full force of our justice system so those who commit rape are charged accordingly.
In a few moments, we'll put to rest a decade-long debate to determine what legally constitutes rape in the State of New York. And so many people fought to get us here and I want to acknowledge them.
Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, our bill sponsor. Thank you, Senator. Thank you. Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, the Assembly sponsor. Former Assemblymember Aravella Simotas, who was the original bill sponsor, thank you. John Watson, the Acting Director of the Office of Victim Services. Thank you, John, for all your work on this. And Kelli Owens, the Executive Director of the Office of Prevention of Domestic Violence.
You open up the newspapers – if you actually open up newspapers or see it on your digital device – but I couldn't help but notice a recurring theme in the headlines, influential men abusing their positions of power to inflict pain on women. And despite our incredible strides as a society, powerful men are still able to commit despicable acts on women, often with impunity.
From leaders in business, from those from the highest levels of government, and though she couldn't be with us here today, I want to take a moment to recognize E. Jean Carroll for her courageous efforts to make sure justice was done and to bring a case against the former president whose defamatory and disgusting statements exacerbated a horrific situation.
Now, as the first woman Governor of the State of New York, it's been my mission since day one to enact stronger protections for women in every walk of life. We've made New York a safe harbor for abortion, strengthened laws that take guns away from abusers, rooted out the culture of harassment in these hallowed halls of this very building and cleared the way for adult survivors to hold their abusers accountable. That mission continues today.
Roughly 90 percent of rape survivors are women, but the problem is rape is very difficult to prosecute. That's because New York's archaic laws define rape in very narrow terms. Physical technicalities confuse jurors and humiliate survivors and create a legal gray area that defendants exploit. You take the case of a woman, Lydia Cuomo, a woman who deserves incredible credit for jump starting the conversation about the need to update our laws.
More than a decade ago, she watched in shock as her case played out in court. Jurors struggled to square her account of what happened to her with New York's high legal threshold for rape. They're hung up on trivial details like – she couldn't recall the color of a car that was parked outside, therefore, she must not be able to recall what happened to her during this so-called rape. This is what she had to endure. She was raped at gunpoint. But given the existing language of law, that's all she had and I want to tell you what she said.
She said, “Right is right. He raped me, and at the end of the day, he's not being called a rapist. He is a rapist, and you need to call rape, rape.” She said those acts now follow on the description of a sexual assault, which she had to endure. And she said it's erroneous because it makes it sound like the attack isn't so bad. She said there's nothing sexual about it, it was an act of violence. And she wanted to make sure that forced anal and oral sex be classified as rape under the law.
Lydia took too many years. Lydia's since moved away. This article is written in 2013. Think of all the cases where women like Lydia had to go into court with the law as it was written despite the horrific acts that occurred to them, whether it's gunpoint in a parking lot or in a workplace setting. It doesn't matter. These women did not receive justice for all this time because of the way the law was written. And now, we will say, despite what happened then, that yes there was an attack, yes it was horrible, but it wasn't rape. Because rape carries a certain weight to it. It gives survivors a way to describe what happened to them.
Naming it is the first step to confronting it. And confronting it is how you eventually move forward and take back your power. On the flip side, if we refuse to call something what it is, we as a society refuse to say rape is rape. We invalidate the survivors, trivialize their pain, and ultimately intensify their trauma.
That somehow what they went through is less serious. It's time to right this wrong. Today I'm signing a bill that broadens the definition of rape to include additional forms of sexual violence. These are acts we would commonly accept as rape but until now have fallen outside the legal definition.
And rewriting these laws is also important to the LGBTQ+ community who have been too long ignored when it comes to prosecution under our New York State rape statutes. Justice denied for too long. Today we're bringing the language of the law in line with what survivors have been forced to endure.
We're reassuring survivors that when they walk into a police station, or approach the witness stand, the full weight of the law of the State of New York is behind them. It's behind them now going forward.
Rape will be treated like the horrific crime that it is. So, I'm here today to say the voices have been heard; reaffirm that justice will be served. And I'm grateful again for all the people who stood up, the advocates, the survivors. Often having to repeat what they experienced. It's painful. It's so painful. We want them to know they've been heard. Their voices have been heard in the halls of this Capitol, finally, after over a decade of waiting.
And I want to thank our advocates, former Assemblymember Aravella Simotas, thank you. Thank you for starting the conversation again. Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz, thank you again for carrying on the fight. Again, incredible leaders. And our Senate sponsor, I want to have you hear from his own words what this means to him, Brad Hoylman-Sigal. Thank you, Senator.