My mother threatened to sue me for slander when I spoke about the abuse her husband did to me as a minor. That is the kind of fear tactic people use when they think silence will protect them. I have spent years digging up medical records going all the way back to age four, trying to make sense of what was done to me and how hard people worked to keep me from being believed. I am speaking now because I have every right to share my lived experience, and no survivor should be intimidated into silence for telling the truth about childhood abuse.

This does not just happen in one family. Survivors are denied, blamed, scapegoated, and threatened all the time, especially when the person who should have protected them helped cover it up instead. When people know they can weaponize defamation threats against survivors, it keeps abuse hidden and protects the adults who enabled it. That silence causes real harm for years and it fuels the mental health damage that trauma leaves behind.

We need lawmakers to pass stronger protections for survivors who disclose childhood sexual abuse and family-enabled abuse, in good faith. Survivors should not have to live in fear that speaking about their own lives will bring legal retaliation meant to drain them, discredit them, or force them quiet. The law should clearly protect survivors from abusive intimidation through slander threats when they are sharing their experiences and seeking safety, accountability, and healing. This law should also allow victims of abuse to be able provide evidence in the court room that often gets dismissed due to other laws that are currently in place. 

Far too often, the only evidence a survivor of abuse has is through verbal reporting, journaling, recordings, character testimony, and photos. We need to make stronger laws that protect survivors and that starts with enabling them to report the abuse with whatever evidence they have being taken into consideration without limitations on what evidence is admissible. 

I created this page to advocate for reform and to tell the truth about what happened to me. I am not here to dox anyone or cause harm. I am here to name the thing people keep acting like we cannot talk about. If you believe survivors deserve the freedom to speak without being terrorized into silence and that we need reform around the evidence that is admissible in court, please sign and stand with us.