Group Will Track Historic Sex Crimes Trial

January 6, 2020 – New York, NY – On the first day of Weinstein’s criminal trial, NOW members gathered outside the courthouse to stand in solidarity with survivors.

NOW President, Sonia Ossorio said, “We stand here today to honor the courage and bravery of every survivor who came forward, at great personal sacrifice, in an effort to hold Weinstein accountable and to say to every survivor that we stand in solidarity with you, we’re fighting alongside you, and we won’t give up until there’s justice.”

Accused by more than 80 women of sexual harassment, sexual assault or rape, Weinstein has been charged in Manhattan on five counts, including predatory sexual assault, rape, and criminal sexual act. Today, Weinstein was also indicted in Los Angeles on sex crimes charges.

The trial is one that the world will be watching, because it is with the Weinstein story that a fire was ignited in which women across the country and around the world came forward to say “Me Too.”

Ossorio added, “Me Too demonstrated the pervasiveness and normalization of sexual harassment and sexual assault in our society, and no matter the outcome of this case, there is no going back. Harvey Weinstein may be the poster boy of predatory behavior, but corporations that treated sexual harassment as just another cost of doing business are being forced to reckon with the fallout of their complicity and silence. Law enforcement is also under the spotlight for how they treat victims and prioritize sexual assault, and laws across the country are changing to hold predators accountable.”

NOW NY has led campaigns to repeal the statute of limitations on rape in New York and is currently working on closing the loophole in state law that makes it more difficult to prosecute sexual assault in cases where a victim was intoxicated.

“It’s because of people like Harvey Weinstein that 1 in 5 women in the U.S. experience sexual assault and more than half of all women report sexual harassment on the job. This affects not only the victims, it impacts families and the economy,” Ossorio added.

Ossorio said, “We still live in a world that agonizes more about how abusive men are going to make their comebacks than about the many women who have been assaulted or harmed, whose careers were derailed, or lives shattered. The Weinstein trial is symbolic of the path to justice for survivors, but it’s important to recognize that it’s still the start of the changes that need to be made.”

NOW-NYC ignites change for the women and girls of New York. We advance laws, promote women in politics, fight for reproductive justice, challenge discrimination and violence against women, and act NOW.

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