FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 12, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 23
Photo courtesy of Connie Altamirano
Queens activist keeps up the
fi ght to pass Child Victims Act
BY RYAN KELLEY
rkelley@ridgewoodtimes.com
Twitter @R_Kelley6
One day before the state budget was
sealed for the fi scal year 2019, Ridgewood
native Connie Altamirano could be found
doing what she does best: advocating for
the Child Victims Act (CVA) at a town
hall meeting with Mayor Bill de Blasio in
Jackson Heights.
Altamirano, 44, raised her hand and
patiently waited to be called on, then delivered
a statement about the importance of
the CVA passing in New York. She was
met with a round of applause and the mayor’s
commendation, and aft er the meeting
ended she waited for a chance to shake the
mayor’s hand and ask him if he supports
the bill, Altamirano said.
She has spent the past three years traveling
to other districts in the city and as far
north as the Capitol building in Albany to
advocate for the CVA, but when the state
budget was approved in the early morning
hours of March 31, Altamirano was
crushed.
Th e CVA was not included in the budget.
“I’ve been literally depressed, and it was
the same weekend as my daughter’s birthday,”
Altamirano said when she met with
the Ridgewood Times on April 5. “I kept
crying all day and my daughter asked
what’s wrong, I said, ‘Allergies, these freaking
allergies.’”
Altamirano is a survivor of sexual abuse,
and for decades she held that secret close.
Her grandmother’s second husband
repeatedly abused and sexually assaulted
Altamirano at their home on Himrod
Street from the time she was a toddler until
age 9, and the man would threaten to hurt
her mother if she spoke up, she claims.
Altamirano previously shared her story
with the Ridgewood Times anonymously,
but has since gone public with her mission
to raise awareness about the CVA
and hold politicians accountable for not
passing it.
Th e CVA was fi rst proposed in 2006 by
former Assemblywoman Margaret Markey
and has been carried on by Senator Brad
Hoylman. Th e most recent version of the
bill calls for the elimination of the statute
of limitations for prosecuting child sexual
abuse crimes and fi ling civil lawsuits
against individuals or institutions related
to that sexual abuse.
Th e act also creates a one-year revival
period of abuse that was previously barred
by the statute of limitations, which would
allow people like Altamirano to seek justice
for the abusers from their childhood.
Th e current statute of limitations for child
sexual abuse is fi ve years aft er the the victim
turns 18.
“I never thought about me because I’m
fi ghting for the CVA to protect children
in general, and because I feel that no one
protected me,” Altamirano said. “I see my
fellow survivors crying just like me. Why
wouldn’t I fi ght for them?”
On the evening of April 5, Altamirano
attended a Ridgewood Property Owners
and Civic Association meeting where
Senator Michael Gianaris spoke about the
state budget. As a supporter of the CVA,
Gianaris has met Altamirano many times
in the past and he greeted her with a hug
before the meeting started.
Gianaris explained that when it comes to
diffi cult decisions like the CVA, the leaders
of the state Senate oft en choose not to
address them at all. In fact, the CVA was
never brought to the fl oor for a vote during
the budget negotiations, he said.
“CVA has overwhelming public support,
but people don’t even want to consider
it,” Gianaris said. “What ends up
happening is communities don’t know
how their representative voted because we
don’t get to vote on it.”
Th e CVA could still get passed in
the current state legislative session, but
Gianaris added that the best chance for
most big issues to pass is when they’re tied
to the budget.
Yet, Altamirano plans to keep fi ghting.
April is observed as Sexual Assault
Awareness Month, and Altamirano has at
least three upcoming events that she plans
to attend in the next two weeks.
She still struggles with Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder caused by her abuse and is
emotionally triggered by crowded places,
germs and the slightest unwelcome touch
from a stranger. When she was 41, she suffered
a stroke and has been on disability
ever since.
It never gets easier, she said, but her own
two children are what keep her going, and
all she wants is to make them and her community
proud.
“I’ve given too much of my life and I’ve
always done right by children,” Altamirano
said. “If not, I wouldn’t have something to
stand on. To me, that’s what’s making me
be here on this earth and this is how I give
back to society.”
Connie Altamirano (second from right) and a group of protesters at the Capitol building in Albany.
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