ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times
Mitch Dudek
@mitchdudek
Scott Cross, who was hailed as a hero for speaking out about the sexual abuse he suffered as as teenager at the hands of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, was lauded for his courage during an award ceremony Sunday in downtown Chicago honoring survivors of abuse.
Phil Saviano, whose abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest was an integral part of the Oscar-winning film “Spotlight,” handed Cross a plaque before several hundred people who’d gathered for an annual conference hosted by Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests at a downtown hotel.
“The movie ‘Spotlight’ was a very powerful movie for me as I struggled talking to my wife about this,” Cross told the audience after accepting the award.
Cross first opened up publicly about being abused at the age of 17 by Hastert, who was his wrestling coach at the time at Yorkville High School, while speaking in court at Hastert’s sentencing in late April.
“There were several reasons I thought about telling my story in a very open format that scared the hell out of me,” he said, according to a video of his remarks provided to the Sun-Times.
“As I was getting close to my decision to come forward, my wife had been encouraging me to go see the movie ‘Spotlight,’” he said.
“I just sat there by myself watching that movie, and it was a very powerful, powerful decision to come forward on top of Coach Hastert making some phone calls to my brother about a letter of support,” Cross said in reference to the audacious move by Hastert to seek a letter of support from Cross’s brother, former Republican ally and House Minority Leader Tom Cross.
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