BALTIMORE (MD)
CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) [Toronto, Canada]
April 6, 2023
By Sheena Goodyear
Maryland scrapped the statute of limitations for sex abuse lawsuits, something C.T. Wilson has long championed
[Includes link to video: Why this U.S. lawmaker has relived his childhood sex abuse over and over again]
WARNING: This article contains discussion of sexual abuse.
C.T. Wilson has been telling the story of his childhood sex abuse for eight years, reliving his trauma again and again.
Wilson is a Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates who, for nearly a decade, has been trying to end his state’s statute of limitations on sex abuse lawsuits.
During that long fight, he has repeatedly stood in front of his colleagues to detail the abuse he says he faced at the hands of his adoptive father. He wrote a book about it called 10,000 Hills: One Boy’s Journey.
On Wednesday, his efforts finally paid off when the Child Victims Act passed in Maryland “to backslaps and applause,” according to the Washington Post.
“It’s been a long battle personally for me,” Wilson told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. “[I feel] relief, exhaustion almost, and a little level of disbelief that this is actually really happening.”
Many victims don’t report until later in life
Before this bill, people in Maryland who were sexually abused as children could not sue after they reached the age of 38.
“The problem with that is it’s forcing people to come out, you know, before they’re ready,” Wilson said. “By the time they’re ready to speak about it and face their demons, it’s too late.”
The Child Victims Act eliminates that age limit and allows for retroactive lawsuits. The bill is now before Gov. Wes Moore, who has said he will sign it into law.
Wilson, 51, says he didn’t start speaking about his abuse until he was 38. On average, people don’t report child sex abuse until they’re 52, according to the think-tank Child USA.
“You spend a lot of your life lying to yourself when you’re a child going through this. You have to lie and pretend it never happened, and you drag that into your adulthood,” Wilson said.
“When you’re younger, you’re always thinking things are going to get better and then you reach a certain age. When you realize they’re not and that the demons that you have inside are going to get you, you know, you have to do something about it.”
For Wilson, doing something has meant speaking out and fighting for other victims.
He first spoke about his experiences in front of his colleagues in 2015, while trying to champion a bill to change the age limit in the statute of limitations from 25 to 28.
The bill was opposed by the Catholic Church and the then-chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and stalled for two years before passing in 2017, according to the Baltimore Sun.
He began efforts to scrap the statute of limitations altogether in 2019, and most recently testified in front of his fellow Maryland lawmakers about his abuse last month.
WATCH | Maryland Delegate C.T. Wilson testifies in 2015. WARNING: Video contains details of childhood sexual abuse and discussion of suicide.https://www.youtube.com/embed/MrhwM-uTHZM
Every time he has to talk about it, he says, it feels like ripping the scab off a wound that had just begun to heal.
“You tear a little more and you tear a little more,” he said. “Every time you have to lay it out there with the hope: This time it’s going to mean something.”
Report finds ‘staggering’ abuse in Baltimore church
The bill’s passage on Wednesday coincided with the release of a scathing report about child sex abuse inside the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
According to an investigation by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, more than 150 Catholic priests and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore sexually abused over 600 children and often escaped accountability.
“The staggering pervasiveness of the abuse itself underscores the culpability of the Church hierarchy,” the report said. “The sheer number of abusers and victims, the depravity of the abusers’ conduct, and the frequency with which known abusers were given the opportunity to continue preying upon children are astonishing.”
Wilson says those victims “were just treated like nothing for years” by his fellow state legislators.
“I hope that the people that voted against this bill, and held this bill back in the past, I hope they had the courage to read that report and see that people they turned their back on and the institution they tried to protect,” he said.
In a written statement, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori apologized to the victims.
“It is difficult for most to imagine that such evil acts could have actually occurred,” Lori said. “For victim-survivors everywhere, they know the hard truth: These evil acts did occur.”
Wilson was unmoved by Lori’s apology. He says the church has long fought the release of this report — and his legislation.
“Those words ring very hollow,” he said. “This could have been done so long ago. They could have ripped the Band-Aid off. They could have joined me in this fight.”
Putting the pieces back together
Now that he’s achieved his goal, Wilson says he’s turning his attentions inward.
“I’ve been spending some of the years trying to save other people. I probably need to spend some time, you know, focusing on myself,” he said.
He started, he said, by buying himself a kintsugi bowl. It’s a kind of Japanese pottery that’s been broken into pieces, then put back together again with a lacquer mixed with powdered gold.
“The theory behind that is when you put your brokenness back together, it can actually be more beautiful than the original plain bowl — i.e., hoping that the brokenness actually can make me better and make me something more,” he said.
Support is available for anyone who has been sexually assaulted. You can access crisis lines and local support services through this Government of Canada website or the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, here’s where to get help:
- Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (phone) | 45645 (text between 4 p.m. and midnight ET).
- Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (phone), live chat counselling on the website.
- Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centre.
This guide from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health outlines how to talk about suicide with someone you’re worried about.
With files from The Associated Press. Interview with C.T. Wilson produced by Kate Swoger.