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Congressional Day of Action with RAINN - Circuspreneur Podcast
25 Plays3 months ago
#Congressional #RAINN #TakeitDown
On this special episode of the Circuspreneur Podcast, host Shenea Stiletto discusses her participation in RAINN's upcoming Congressional Day of Action in Washington D.C. The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network is an American nonprofit anti-sexual assault organization, the largest in the United States. Shenea will use her experience as a Survivor of USA Gymnastics to advocate for the following bills, TAKE IT DOWN ACT, SHIELD ACT, DEFIANCE ACT, PROTECT OUR CHILDREN ACT, NO TIME LIMITS ACT, Protect Our Children Act, the Debbie Smith Grant Program, and RAINN Hotline funding.
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Transcript
Introduction and Advocacy Background
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Circuspreneur Podcast
Circuspreneurs, I'm your host, Shanae Stiletto, and welcome to this solo episode of the Circuspreneur podcast, where I am highlighting the upcoming Congressional Day of Action with RAINN.
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For those of you who may know or not know, I have a long relationship with RAINN, which is rape rape abuse and incest national network.
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And it's an American nonprofit and anti-sexual assault organization. And it is the largest in the United States. And they do,
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amazing work. And each year they have a an in-person Congressional Day of Action as well as ongoing virtual Congressional Days of Action.
Experience with USA Gymnastics Abuse Case
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Circuspreneur Podcast
And so I've been grateful to come together with RAINN and to advocate for several policies over the last few years as a survivor of USA Gymnastics. For those of you that are listening in, that are unfamiliar with my history in terms of advocacy and the case involving USA Gymnastics and the USOPC,
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Circuspreneur Podcast
where there was the expulsion, or i think that's the best word, of the acute abuse that was going on within that organization. i call it a corporation.
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And there were hundreds and thousands of victims, also known as survivors, that came as a result of exposing victims the egregious crimes against children and against adults within the Olympic and within the USA Gymnastics organization, which extended not just within Olympians, but for a multitude of participants and gymnasts from different disciplines within USA Gymnastics.
Decade-long Advocacy Efforts
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and those that were in varying degrees of representation in gymnastics and across generations, actually. So just a little bit of background around that.
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And so that has informed my advocacy for nearly a decade now in terms of working with members of Congress and senators across America for different ah legislation and different policies that protect children, that give survivors and victims more rights and more access to justice and more access to care.
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Circuspreneur Podcast
My own journey as a survivor of USA Gymnastics was pretty prolific and just ended a couple of years ago with the settlement process that we went through and the criminal court cases. And so from beginning until end, it was about, I would say, 10 years. And so, yes, that was 10 years of court cases and of legislation,
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And of settlement processes, of hearings, of testifying, and all that jazz. So i have learned a lot and continue to learn a lot in terms of advocating for other survivors to have the rights that i you know, was fortunate to end up having.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Congressional Day of Action
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as a survivor myself. And, you know, and I've worked with lawmakers to, ah you know, to create and to amend existing policy. And I've been doing that for all of these years now, which has been you know very beneficial overall to the plight of victims and children that are you know that suffer from abuse of all kinds, all shapes and sizes, and specifically
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sexual abuse and um in all of the different environments that children are vulnerable to experience abuse.
Advocacy for Circus Industry Protections
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And so April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. That is why RAINN has their Congressional Day of Action in Washington, D.C.,
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in April. And so I'm so grateful and honored to be called upon to work with RAINN, to use my voice, to use my story, and to use my experiences to advocate for current bills and in doing that in person. And I also do it virtually as well on an ongoing basis. And so for those that aren't familiar, that is what has informed the advocacy that I do for the circus industry. and
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in terms of health and safety and for increased labor rights and for circus arts recognition by the National Endowment for the Arts. If you hear any of those things swirling around within the industry, know that they have come a from me and through me and um you know from also other advocates that I have joined forces with along the way.
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And I am also pushing for the pro for the creation of safe art or safe circus, which would be an extension of safe sport, which is the basically the policing of all national governing bodies and increases the rights of those that exist within national governing bodies like USA Taekwondo, USA Swimming, USA Gymnastics, USA B-sports.
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hockey, they're all connected to a Center air for Safe Sport.
Safe Circus Initiatives and Policy Amendments
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And so I have been advocating and working towards having that policy that will give more rights to the performing arts and to the circus arts specifically in terms of reporting all levels of abuse, which is what Safe Sport handles.
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And ah you know just another nod out there, you can go get Safe Sport training um You do not have to you know be a member. So you essentially become a member to be able to do that training.
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And that training is ah very, very, very valuable. um And i highly suggest that if you are involved in the arts, that you take that training as a performer, as a coach, as a business owner, as a director, as a producer.
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It's very, very valuable in terms of handling abuse, understanding what types of abuses you should be looking out for, how to, you know, take care of situations that arise within, you know, your circus festival, for example, or your circus studio or your circus school, where these environments, you know, um you know, can be very vulnerable to abuse.
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Many circus programs are in gymnastics gyms and so or you know are in a parkour gym or in a breakdown studio. Many of these spaces overlap with circus at this point. And so I highly recommend, um if you're going to be a circus judge, I highly recommend that you take safe sport training.
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And I've been working with safe sport for a number of years. Like I said, I've worked and we're currently amending policy directly with ah members of the Senate and different members of Congress that have been introducing amendments to safe sport called safe first sport or calling the bills different names um or looking at them from different perspectives and in terms of safety and regulation ah for youth sports.
Tech-enabled Abuse and Legislative Responses
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So I am ah hoping and the next little while that
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we can look forward to the introduction of safe Art or Safe Circus. um And as I said, you know I've been leading this effort in terms of how we can get these different policies passed, on what level and in what ways and um seeing to it that we you know have an ongoing strategy about how to highlight these policies for the circus arts industry in terms of the Safe Arts Safe Circus or the Circus Workers Act or the Circus Arts Rights Act.
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and so And then also to the circus arts category recognition with the National Endowment for the Arts. And so this, ah you know, three or four pronged approach is something that I, you know, i um yeah, that we are advocating consistently for.
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And so back to the Congressional Day of Action, i wanted to go over the bills that I would be advocating for. and why they are important and who has introduced these bills and um the officer that I'm going to be meeting with and giving you a little bit of insight and background into what these congressional meetings look like. I will also be there for circus, but that will be on another day.
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will be meeting with a senator and i will be discussing that probably in my post-conference ah my post-compressional day of action, solo podcast where i discuss how the day went and, uh, or the days went.
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And, um, you know, I am consistently also inserting circus arts, uh, advocacy within, my Congressional Day of Action as a survivor of USA Gymnastics, because at this point in time, they go hand in hand.
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And so it's usually ah great way for me to make a new relationship with a new member of Congress or a new senator and get the circus arts industry in their minds as well so that they're thinking about our industry when they're thinking about these bills and thinking about the level of abuses that also exist in our industry.
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as well, because these bills are multifaceted. These bills are not just a concentration on sports. These are bills that are to prevent a abuses of children in all areas of life and to also assist survivors in all areas of life across America on either a federal level or you know some are are maybe amendments to state level bills, but most of them are are federal statutes.
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and um federal policy so that we can affect a broader audience of the population that is victimized by abuse.
Child Protection Bills and Legal Challenges
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And so what is the leading issue that we will be focusing on for Reigns Congressional Day of Action?
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It will be tech-enabled abuse. And so you're wondering, what is tech-enabled abuse? And that is sexual abuse. It covers a wide range of manipulative and abusive methods of harm, child sexual abuse material,
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AI-generated non-consensual intimate images, also known as deepfakes, image-based sexual abuse or non-consensual intimate images, or sextortion. Tech-enabled abuse is just as pervasive and harmful as any other form of abuse. And so starting with the first bill, it's the Take It Down Act, and it's being introduced by Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Maria Salazar.
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It establishes a new criminal offense for the distribution of non-consensual AI-generated intimate images. It requires online platforms to remove these images within 48 hours of being reported.
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So it was introduced. It was introduced to the Senate committee, passed by the Senate. It is now awaiting to go to the House committee and then get passed by the House. And then it goes on to be signed by the president, who can also veto it once it gets to his desk.
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The next act is the SHIELD Act, and that has been introduced by Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Jefferson Van Drew. And it creates a federal criminal offense for knowingly distributing intimate images without consent.
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It provides additional provisions to protect children from online sexual exploitation. And at this point in time, it's been introduced. it hasn't It's not been through any committees now or or have been passed.
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There's also the Defiance Act, and this was introduced by Senator Richard Durbin and Representative AOC or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortel.
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And this is also... a bill that has been connected to Taylor Swift, for example. um The deepfake bill is also connected, I believe, to um to Taylor Swift because she was victimized, ah you know, in terms of being turned into a deepfake and having her image manipulated. This happened to AOC, this member of Congress. And so that is why she introduced the bill because it happened to her and she was, um you know, ah terribly exploited.
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um online through this level of digital forgery, they like to call it. So the Defiance Act creates a federal civil remedy for victims who are identifiable in a digital forgery. It also creates a 10-year statute of limitations once the plaintiff learns about the AI-generated, non-consensual, intimate image, plaintiff being the victim.
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So essentially, once you learn about it, you have 10 years to go after the to basically you know file that lawsuit um and you know and and and and seek justice on a civil level. And civil remedy remains basically that you can sue someone for monetary damages, right? so you can get that civil judgment against them um and you can get some kind of compensation for the impacts of that, um for that crime against you, but it's not necessarily, again, holding them accountable
No Time Limit for Justice Act and Personal Impact
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criminally. That's something different.
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Where, you know, yeah you know, somebody can go to prison or go to jail um for acting out in that way against you. So, you know, for me, it's always a two pronged approach that's the most important for victims of any type of abuse. of abuse You know, you want to be able to go after someone criminally and go after them civilly.
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um And obviously, sometimes if it is either one or the other. But it's so great that, you know, these different representatives are introducing these different amendments and these different clauses so that folks, you know, don't get stuck in limbo or having to choose between, you know, either one. Because, you know, sometimes, you know, you can't go after someone you know, on a criminal level. And that means they won't go to prison. and They won't go to jail.
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Nothing will happen against them. They won't have a charge against them, you know, um ah forever. And, um and that's, that's a really disturbing thing if you think about it. um But you can go after them civilly. And sometimes, you know, folks,
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This is, for example, not talking about the huge big tech companies. This is talking about you know individuals, for example, that um you know maybe you know don't have the monetary compensation to even give anything to you after there's been a judgment against them. so you can get a judgment against them civilly and not see any of that money, which is, again, cruel. And then you can't even go after them criminally.
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So not only will they not pay back any of that money or that judgment, but they also won't even go be going to jail or going to prison. um But obviously getting any kind of judgment to me is justice. So, you know, giving getting a civil judgment judgment against someone where again, over time they have to pay they have to pay you something, obviously, yeah that is also the way that um that it works.
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um But this is also too, for those, um you know, that aren't familiar with that, this is really about too going after these tech companies like Facebook, Snapchat,
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Instagram, Google, all of these really big tech companies um that, you know, enable this abuse, for example, by not taking it down, like the Take It Down Act, where they allow these materials to just be up there. for months and they make money off of these images, by the way, the child abuse material, the deep fakes, they make a lot of money off of these materials. So it makes them money so they don't want to take it down.
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um So that's why we need the Defiance Act and the Shield Act and all of those things. And then With some of these cases, um you know, you can go after the person that created the AI material. But for example, you can't go after the people that distributed it or that have it in their possession, which is is wild.
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When you think about it, you can only go after one person. So these bills are making it so that you can go after people. three you know different entities and you know and hold them all accountable, which you would think is kind of common sense, but that's how these laws work. And then that's how they get reformed um so that You know, unfortunately, have to take all these different steps to be able to get that full like level of justice.
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But that's how it can work, especially when folks are in very powerful positions and they can block these acts and they can block these bills. um And again, you know, the tech companies, ah you know, they don't want to have to comply, you know, with any of these, with any of these bills. They think that they do not need to be regulated um and that, you know, they should be able to regulate on their own terms, right?
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Circuspreneur Podcast
And so these bills are based essentially saying, no, you know, once you're dealing with you know, with ah with people's, ah you know, ah public images, it is their right um to not have their images and manipulated in this way. And obviously, many of these are are exhibiting the ones outside of just being AI or actual real victims in real life um that have been victimized. And So, you know, the importance of remembering that, you know, not all of these um images and videos are just, you know, are just AI and generated in fake. Many of them are real.
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And the companies, a you know, are making so much money off of them that, you know, they will try if nobody reports them and nobody says, that's me. And, you know, please, you know, take that down. They just act like they have impunity and that they're not responsible to have to take that down because why, even if it's abuse, it's making us billions of dollars.
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And so Let's see here. What is the next bill? The next bill is centered around child protection. And one in five girls and one in 20 boys are a victim of child sexual abuse. Over the course of 2023, NCMEC saw reports of child sexual exploitation rise more than 12% compared with the previous year.
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NCMEC has received 36.2 million reports of child sexual ah exploitation in total. The number of files included reports also increased by 19% from the previous year to more than 100 million. i mean,
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Absolutely insane. So we will also be advocating for the Protect Our Children Act or bill. And that's been introduced by Senator John Corwin and Representative or Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
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It will require the U.S. Department of Justice to provide detailed information on efforts to protect children nationwide, provide the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force with the resources, funding and guidance necessary to identify and locate children.
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So important. You know, we have a lot of those images, those child sexual abuse images online. um You know, the the the crazy thing is, is that even when they're going to take those images down, imagine this, there is no law that says they have to actually go try to find who those children are.
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So they're like, we took it down. And then those children are just lost forever. um and so that's the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, you know, this is increasing their funding so they can actually be required. And there's a law that says you not only have to take those images and those videos down, you have to go figure out and find those children and save them and rescue them um and, you know, bring those perpetrators to justice. And I mean, it's just wild to think that that was not um something that they had to do previously.
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But again, these are all the steps that they were getting towards in trying to hold these big tech companies responsible um for ah for kind of you know hosting this content and then you know increasing the victimization of children um in so many different forms and capacities.
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The access to justice and resources. Every 68 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted. And every nine minutes, authorities find evidence that a child in America has been the victim of sexual abuse. More than two-thirds of these crimes are never reported to police. And only 25 out every 1,000 rapists, 1,000, 25 out of 1,000 rapists will end prison. Hmm.
RAINN's Advocacy and Support Programs
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rapist one thousand twenty five out of one thousand rapists will end up in prison a Victim advocacy programs across the country are facing $600 million in budget cuts, resulting in programs having to cut staff, services, or shut down entirely, which is you know an absolute tragedy.
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The next bill that I will be advocating for on RAINN's Congressional Day of Action is the No Time Limit for Justice Act. It's been introduced by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and it incentivizes states to eliminate their statute of limitations for criminal prosecution and civil suits involving child sexual abuse. I think that there should be no statute um of limitations ah You know, this continues to be kind of a controversial topic for folks saying, you know, you can accuse somebody like 40 years later of abuse and, you know, how relevant is that?
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um You know, and you know, so many people can get caught up and, ah you know, be lied on. And, you know, you know, where is kind of like, um you know, where is the line on on on on all of that? And, you know, so again, just puts so much hands and power, so many, so much power in the hands, excuse me,
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of the perpetrator, right? Because wouldn't they love a time limit on someone reporting terrible crimes against them? And what we know survivors and working in survivor spaces is that it can take a minimum of a decade for a victim or a survivor to come forward about their case. I mean, that's what my case was like. And I was at the very limit of the statute of limitations in California to be able to report court my abuser. And again, when you've been a part of cases where these these perpetrators have been you know abusing for 20, 30, 40 years, right? without anyone Without anyone reporting them in the way that it brought them to justice, right? Not like they weren't reported, but that nothing really stuck.
00:23:52
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It changes your mind in terms of how long statutes should be. And I think that it should for anyone that really looks at it that way, where these are literally people that are, you know, have been doing this for decades before anyone speaks up or before there's enough of a case to bring against them or for you know, whatever space that they're in that's been corrupted, you know, um decides, you know, that there's, ah again, people that are involved are able to get the proper evidences.
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They finally get listened to. i mean, that's what happened with us as survivors of USA Gymnastics. You know, these same abusers were around for decades before it you know exploded and they were finally brought to justice. And so in keeping that in mind, you know it's a you know that's why we you know need to relinquish these statute of limitations. And then also too, in terms of being able to go after these spaces civilly, you know these big companies and corporations and organizations, they really do benefit as well for the limit of statute of limitations. And of course they want that because they don't want have to pay out, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars to the thousands of victims that have had their lives impacted and ruined um by these cases. You know, they would of course um rather not have to compensate anybody monetarily, even though they're the ones that have, you know, benefited so much from folks being abused.
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They have, and from things, you know, staying quiet for so many years. You know, these are, you know, these corporations and and organizations are worth hundreds of millions and billions of dollars. So of course it serves them to, you know, um say, Hey, you know, you had your five years, you had your three years.
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um And again, remember most of these offenses are happening when people are children And um you know it takes a while for you to you know to speak up, um to you know to you know ah to find the words, to express what happened to you, um sometimes to you know re remember these terrible things that happened to you that may be blocked out as a child, which happens. And so there's so many different influences um in these cases.
00:26:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
that go into why we're advocating um you know for these bills in these particular ways. right And in my experience, and not only my own story, but thousands of you know survivors that I've you know spoken to and organized with and advocated with and things now for these past years, it's like all of those experiences really inform my understanding of why these bills are set up in the way that they are and the key issues that we need to legislate, right?
00:26:37
Circuspreneur Podcast
So that folks aren't up against those same um difficulties that I was up against, for example. And there is also the Crime Fund Stabilization Act. It's being introduced by Congresswoman Ann Wagner, and it addresses the devastating $600 million dollars cut facing victim assistance programs by redirecting funds collected through the False Claims Act into the Crime Victim Fund through fiscal year 2029 that has just been introduced.
00:27:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
and also appropriations. And what are appropriations? We will also be advocating for this. Appropriations are a decision process made by Congress on how to allocate a portion of federal spending. andden excuse me RAINN is submitting a number of requests, but they are prioritizing two applications.
00:27:26
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for the Congressional Day of Action. And ah that is the National Sexual Assault Hotline and the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program. And both are so incredibly important. And we are going to be advocating for $3.15 million dollars ah for the National Sexual Assault Hotline.
00:27:49
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NSAH provides confidential crisis support to survivors. It also also offers a telephone hotline and online chat and a Spanish language hotline.
00:28:00
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The NSAH provides h has served 4.5 million survivors since its creation and currently supports over 27,000 visitors per month. I don't know why I cannot pronounce H today. my God, sometimes it's just the day. Excuse me.
00:28:18
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And so this National Sexual Assault Hotline, i will be joined by volunteers for this hotline who are usually survivors themselves. And um they have some really powerful stories to tell. They are going to be sharing the stories of children that call this hotline and detail their abuses.
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And, you know, when you're calling this hotline and it's children's stories, these are not necessarily stories that end up going to court. Many of them, you know ah you know, tell many of the hotline workers, please just don't ever forget my story. You're going to be probably the only person that hears my story.
00:29:00
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And um my story may never land in anyone else's years and how devastating that is. um You know, they don't necessarily have a pathway to justice and, um you know, and they might not survive that abuse.
00:29:19
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um And also as adults, it just, again, might just be something within their past that they never share and they never go forward with criminally, which, you know, survivors have every right to do. And many survivors actually choose that pathway um or they don't have the pathway to justice because of our legal system. So they're actually, know,
00:29:42
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You know, it occurred in a state with certain laws, and so they don't fit within any law that will grant them that justice. And so i also encourage you, if you are in need of assistance and help, to use that hotline um because it is a very beneficial tool for those being victimized or if you need to help a friend.
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um that has been victimized or you know is being victimized. And um you'll get some really incredible support on that hotline. The Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program, we're asking for $130 million dollars um to be appropriated in funds for that. And it help addresses the backlog of processing evidence for violent crimes, including sexual assaults.
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It prevents future backlogs. And it also uploads offender DNA into CODIS, which will solve more crimes, take dangerous offenders off the streets and bring justice to survivors.
00:30:39
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So these are just, you know, such important bills that I am so, you know, honored, you know, to support and to advocate for. and and you know, some of them,
00:30:54
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are you know newer versions and of bills that I've advocated for in the past. And I believe when I went to Congressional Day of Action last year, there were about five bills that we got passed by advocating in person and speaking with these offices. And so when I go in,
00:31:12
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And, you know I share my story. I connect it in certain ways ah strategically to the bill that we are seeking for that representative do.
00:31:26
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and to support. And um on that day, i will be meeting with Representative Wagner, Representative Raskin, Representative Morrell, Representative Ross, Representative Burkitt, and Representative Boyle.
00:31:45
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And so, you know, you can advocate on your own, you can contact those offices. And tell them that you support these bills and that you want their support for these bills and that we need to get these bills passed. connect it to, you know, something in your history, in your life, in a friend's, in a survivor's story that you know of. You can even connect it to my story.
00:32:11
Circuspreneur Podcast
um you know, about being a survivor of USA Gymnastics. I know the importance for me in terms of holding these big tech companies responsible is because it is very similar to what I experienced in USA Gymnastics and the US OPC, the Olympic Committee, um essentially in terms of, you know, them kind of being too big to fail and being too big and unique to regulate.
00:32:34
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And for years, we were silenced and exploited and told that, you know, they were just... too big to fail and that we had so much on the line and that they represented something so special and they represented, you know, something important and so prolific to American culture.
00:32:52
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And we were intimidated out of coming forward and manipulated out of coming forward. And they, again, told, you know, the public we've created our own laws and our own rules.
00:33:05
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And um essentially they were just making a lot of money off of the abuse of children. And, um you know, again, just a terrible, terrible thing ah to to say and to do and to act out. But these companies and these organizations did this with impunity, meaning that they felt like they were above the law and they actually existed above the law for so many years.
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And so that's a very powerful reminder for us when we see these big tech platforms that you know essentially say the same thing. Like, we feel for you. We're doing all that we can to protect children and to protect these spaces. and they're not.
00:33:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
They're not doing that behind the scenes. They are lobbying hard against any type of regulations. They are trying to make deals you know, with um our members of Congress and, you know, our representatives and their lobbying for, you know, bills to get blocked and for different statutes and things to be limited so that they don't have to be held accountable. And experiencing this in the way that I did in a seven-year settlement process for USA Gymnastics, by the way, was on cooperative for that entire time and did so many things behind the scenes to not have to settle.
00:34:20
Circuspreneur Podcast
to not have to update their terms and be accountable with new provisions. And they didn't want new laws that were going to affect their business model, which was to have folks toe the line and have, you know, just access to your child and access to their care and to their safety And to essentially have everyone a part of their organization do whatever they wanted so that their children would be successful in gymnastics. And we know that that is a heinous way to act and that nothing is worth, you know, that, um you know, sacrificing your child or sacrificing yourself if you are the child within that scenario.
00:35:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
ah to do well um in sports. And so to bring it on back around, thank you so much for tuning into this solo episode where I discussed RAINN's Congressional Day of Action. I'm your host, Shanae Stiletto.
00:35:20
Circuspreneur Podcast
Thank you so much for tuning into this solo short special series or episode of the Circuspreneur podcast.
Call to Action and Collective Advocacy
00:35:28
Circuspreneur Podcast
We are sponsored by stagelink.com and we are available on all podcast platforms.
00:35:37
Circuspreneur Podcast
And please like subscribe, tag the podcast. It really, really, really helps us to continue to, you know, present and make this, uh, I think high quality content available for the industry and outside of the industry. And, um, yeah, use your voice, uh, everyone and advocate for,
00:35:58
Circuspreneur Podcast
for these policies. And, you know, there is probably, you know, at least one person in your life that's been affected adversely by ah abuse or exploited in some way, shape or form in any area of your life. But if it's specifically within the competitive gymnastics environment,
00:36:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
or the circus arts or the performing arts or the and entertainment industry, you know yeah you know these are these are issues that affect us in our industries and in our spaces.
00:36:33
Circuspreneur Podcast
happening And, you know, we deserve to be protected and have provisions just like anyone else in any other type of industry. And so this is a way to do it. And this advocacy does work.
00:36:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
um Believe me, being in these spaces, but it does take work and it does take some level of patience and it takes lot of energy And, um you know, I just salute all the brave survivors out there and the policy advisors and everyone that volunteers with RAINN as well.
00:37:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
They are, you know, really, they do really brilliant work and, um you know, in in advocating for policies. And obviously this is something that they do all day, every day. These are not easy topics.
00:37:20
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, i am I do it regardless. I know that these are not topics that folks like to listen to or hear about. It's so much easier to just turn a blind eye And um to say that this doesn't affect me and never will. And it's too difficult of a topic to discuss or to speak about.
00:37:42
Circuspreneur Podcast
And um so, you know, I highly encourage you to not let those narratives hold you back from discussing these crimes and these injustices against children and then against adults at different times in their lives. You never know when you will need a certain level of protection or law that's on your side. And I hope that you seek that out for yourself.
00:38:08
Circuspreneur Podcast
If you are in a difficult space in your life or you have been exploited in some way and that you look towards your to justice, I'll say it really helped me in my journey as a survivor of USA Gymnastics. It's what I think gave me my you know my passion and my sense of purpose.
00:38:28
Circuspreneur Podcast
something that, you know, someone tried and a lot of people tried very hard to take away from me. And so pursuing those paths was really essential and important to me.
00:38:39
Circuspreneur Podcast
And so maybe that's also your path um to justice and to reclaiming your power. So thank you again. And I look forward to you all tuning in on the next ah Circus Preneur podcast episode. I'm your host, Janice Leto. Thank you. see you next time.