If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
How can we possibly reassure teens that they are safe and that these tragic events are low frequency events that are unlikely to happen yet again?
Over the past year, we have seen evidence of several organizations where moral integrity is a given fall prey to widespread child sexual abuse. Like the Catholic Church, these institutions chose to protect themselves and their own image rather than the lives of innocent victims.
For a galvanized new civil rights movement and their allies in Maricopa County -- and across Arizona -- bringing down Sheriff Arpaio in this fall's election will be the first step in the right direction.
Sex crimes are on the rise. Day after day girls are sneaking out of the house to meet men that have chatted up on the Internet. I am surrounded by it every single day in my job.
Even though we do not have precise data on how many teachers and other educators abuse students, the recent Sandusky case at Penn State show that it is urgent for schools to take deliberate, comprehensive steps to safeguard students.
It is hard to believe that we still bury our heads in the sand when it comes to discussing private parts and their real names. Those of us who are in the business are fully aware that sex crimes know no boundaries.
According to the current standards, "Past offenses alone cannot show whether someone is mentally ill or likely to commit new crimes." Only when it comes to molesting children this is patently false.
Last June I was sexually molested by another gay man during L.A. Pride. Two weeks later, the New York Senate passed the Marriage Equality Act. I was sitting at the LAX airport when I heard the news. It was bittersweet for me; I wondered if gay men deserved to marry.
I work in a school district that has been shamed by sexual predators posing as teachers and the cumulative failures to prevent or stop them.
When it comes to boundaries, I've learned that it's best for us to listen to ourselves and to respect the way we feel. As women, we are so quick to respond and to make everyone else feel at ease, but our own feelings are just as important.
The victim's willingness and ability to report a crime is even more difficult if the alleged abuser is someone important or famous. It's for this reason that many victims do not come forward until years later -- long after a statute of limitations has run out.
A groundswell of demands for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's resignation continued to spread across local, county and state levels in Arizona today.
We cannot let the Penn State case come and go, fade from the front pages, until we learn of the next shocking incident of long-term, cover-up molestation. These situations are happening everywhere we live. On virtually every block of America's city and suburban neighborhoods.
Many say Paterno didn't do anything wrong, but the issue is, he didn't do the right thing.
Herman Cain, who has given contradictory explanations of his alleged sexual misconduct with two members of the National Restaurant Association, has spoken again to the issue.
