HELP ME Kansas House Bill #2100 - Persons abused when they were adults - General Discussion Topics - SNAP Survivors' Network - Message Board - Yuku

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HELP ME Kansas House Bill #2100

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PegyJ	HELP ME Kansas House Bill #2100		Lead	[-]
Posts: 289 01/28/09 23:15:47	Tags : None Dear Friend, Once again, it is time to get to work in Kansas to help bring justice to victims of sexual exploitation by clergy. I am asking, begging, pleading with you to contact Rep. Pat Colloton, chair-woman of the Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice, and ask her for a hearing on Kansas House Bill #2100, which would add clergy to the list of professionals on Kansas's 'Unlawful Sexual Relations' statute, which would make it illegal for clergy to become sexually involved with persons 16 yrs and older. If a hearing would be scheduled it would be within the next two weeks. So there is an urgency to make contact with Rep. Colloton ASAP. You do not have to be from Kansas to contact Rep. Colloton. pat.colloton@house.ks.gov Phone # 1-785-296-7631 If you would like to read the amendment to the statute go to link http://www.kslegislature....gsrv-legisportal/index.do and type in bill number 2100 in the box on the right side of screen. Once the hearing is scheduled, I would encourage those who have been affected by clergy exploitation, to consider traveling to Topeka, (or Wichita and travel with me to Topeka) to testify. Let me know if you would be interested in testifying. Please pass this on to whomever you think would be interested. We need to fire up Rep. Colloton's inbox within the next couple days! CC me your letters to Rep. Colloton if you wish. Peace to all and thank you for your help! Peggy Warren Wichita, Ks www.educatingtoendabuse.com *A form letter that you can copy and paste -* Dear Rep. Colloton, Please consider scheduling a hearing for House Bill #2100. When a clergyperson exploits a congregant, it is not just the primary victim that suffers immense trauma but the entire congregation, leaving everyone questioning not only the clergyperson but questioning their entire belief system. When an employer engages in a sexual relationship with an employee or a therapist has sex with a patient, it is an abuse of power. This type of relationship is also an abuse of power, and a betrayal of trust. Just as there was a time in our society that our attitude towards marital rape and date rape needed to changed, now is the time for society to change attitudes regarding clergy exploitation of adolescents and adults. As the law is now in Kansas, a clergyperson could have sex with a 'willing' 16 yr old and it be legal. The 16 yr old could not be 'willing', the power differential is too great. This exploitation is never consensual. It is not an affair, it is a crime and now is the time for clergy to be held accountable for their irresponsible, predatory, criminal behavior. In 2008, THE FORD FOUNDATION granted Dr. Diana Garland, dean of the Baylor University School of Social Work, $200,000 to study clergy sexual exploitation of adults, with results to be release next month. THE FORD FOUNDATION recognizes the prevalence of this abuse, now it is time for the justice system to take notice and call this type of behavior what it is - a CRIME. I would greatly appreciate a hearing on KS HB 2100 and would like to know your position on this issue. I look forward to your response. Sincerely, Last Edited By: PegyJ 02/03/09 10:36:09. Edited 1 time.
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LiberteBelle		#1	[url]	[-]
Posts: 159 02/16/09 15:09:22	I already wrote to Rep. Colloton and would like to take this opportunity to not only express my support for this bill, but others like it being initiated in other states. I am meeting with my own New Mexico State Representative, to discuss amending our professional conduct codes to include clerics and religious counselors -- so that they become as liable before the law for misconduct with adult congregants and counselees as are lay psychologists, physicians and attorneys. To SNAP leaders who have ignored the adult side of the issue, because it was easier to get legal backing and sympathy for child victims and push for lifting or extension of statute of limitation laws with those cases, I say, shame on you! You missed the opportunity to be at the forefront of promoting legal reform on behalf of the adult victims, whom A.W. Richard Sipe has already said, outnumber child victims. Only three states currently have laws with 'teeth' in them, in terms of making clerics legally accountable to adult as well as child victims. By the time Peggy and I and others like us are done, we will be assuring that the other 47 states have laws that make clerics (almost) as accountable to the adults they sexually exploit and abuse, as with children. As a diocesan outreach counselor / social worker -- who dares to include "vulnerable adults" in his church office's title -- once told me, "Abuse is abuse is abuse. It is as bad perpetrated on an adult as a child, and possibly worse, because the priests presume they are safe from (legal) consequences with an adult." Last Edited By: LiberteBelle 02/16/09 15:30:41. Edited 2 times.
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janet		#2	[url]	[-]
Posts: 454 02/16/09 21:10:18	I agree 100%, Liberte. I was sexually abused as a child by my father and as a young adult by a priest, and I can say that all sexual assault is traumatizing, regardless of the victim's age.
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LiberteBelle		#3	[url]	[-]
Posts: 162 02/17/09 12:57:13	Thank you Janet. I'm sure you also came to realize (in the course of undergoing therapy) that incestuous or childhood abuse "set you up" for being vulnerable to sexual abuse as an adult. The therapist who saw me through the aftermath of having been duped and sexually exploited by a Jesuit told me that my background experiences made me a 'perfect' target for a predator. I was incestuously abused by my late father as a girl, sexually assaulted while in the Air Force, and my former husband abused me as well. The Jesuit was well aware that I'd been sexually abused and simply compounded my problems. I'm wondering if the priest who assaulted you knew of your childhood abuse as well and thought he was "helping" you? (Another survivor friend who also suffered childhood abuse told me that the priest who abused her, as an adult, said, "The best way to get over bad sex is with good sex." He offered himself as the "good sex" then abandoned her ...Jerk!) An aside: I was told offline that one SNAP leader has, in fact, been supportive of some efforts on the part of adult survivors to educate the public and bring about legal reform. I was very happy to hear this. Unfortunately, my to-date experiences of trying to secure focus on the adult side of this issue have not been very successful. Now I'm hopeful that the long anticipated "second wave" is actually building momentum and attracting more backing. Last Edited By: LiberteBelle 02/17/09 12:59:40. Edited 1 time.
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janet		#4	[url]	[-]
Posts: 455 02/17/09 21:48:40	No, he didn't think he was helping me. He was a sadistic SOB who hated females. Patrick McElliott was his name.
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