For women and children who are living through Hurricane Harvey, reaching a place of safety from the storm often means exposure to another danger: sexual violence. As Hurricanes Rita and Katrina demonstrated in 2005, natural disasters often create environments ripe for sexual exploitation, with many sexual assaults occurring at crowded evacuation sites and shelters.
Legal Momentum Blog
If you are being watched, leave now!
Welcome to Legal Momentum's Blog.
We write about stories and issues that relate to our mission.
Our Intern Team also posts about issues important to them, offering discussion and insight regarding women's equality and opportunity.
-
-
On July 26th, the current administration launched two noteworthy attacks against the LGBTQ community. First, the President took to Twitter to announce that no transgender person will be allowed to serve in the military in any capacity. Second, in a combative and unconventional step, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an unsolicited brief in a case before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals directly opposing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The case, Zarda v.
-
The American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence is honoring Legal Momentum’s President and CEO Carol Robles-Román with the 2017 Sharon L. Corbitt Award. The annual award recognizes a lawyer who demonstrates exemplary service to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and/or stalking, in the spirit of Sharon L. Corbitt.
-
In an interview on July 12, Candice Jackson, the acting head of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), said that the overwhelming majority of Title IX complaints did not warrant investigation.
-
Like much of the country, Legal Momentum is in shock over the untimely death of Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam. Judge Abdus-Salaam was a pioneer on many fronts. She was an associate judge on New York State’s highest court and was the first African-American woman to serve on the court of appeals when she was appointed in 2013. She became the first-ever Muslim woman jurist in 1994 when she began serving on the State Supreme Court. Prior to becoming a judge, she worked as a public defender.
-
Cuts would put millions of Americans in harm's way.
-
Carol Robles-Román Launches Alliance at Trust Women Conference
-
Legal Momentum is greatly saddened at the passing of NBC, PBS, Washington Post, and New York Times journalist extraordinaire Gwen Ifill. She was a role model to countless women, and a trailblazer. She was the first African-American woman to host a major political talk show when she headed Washington Week in Review, and with Judy Woodruff was one of the PBS NewsHour’s first female co-anchors.
-
Legal Momentum remembers with admiration and respect Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, who died of cancer on Sunday, October 9, at age 50. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.
-
On Monday September 26, 27-year-old Kelvin Acosta of the Bronx pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child. Acosta used the internet to prey on young girls—one as young as 13. Acosta first made contact with his victims using Facebook, where he tricked them into revealing personal information. Using that information, he hacked his victims’ email accounts and told them he had their sex videos or nude photographs. He then told his teen victims that unless they created pornography for him or gave him money, he would send the images to their families, friends, and schools.
