There is a current piece of legislation (House Bill 254) going through the Utah House of Representatives that will decrease the power of survivors of sexual assault to have ownership over their own stories.

One of the elements in HB254 is a section that states universities can choose (if the perpetrator is deemed an “articulable and significant threat”) to report sexual assaults to local police, even if the victims do not give consent for information to be given. Logically, it makes sense. Don’t we want to report sexual assaults and perhaps stop the perpetrator from repeating the offense? Unfortunately, the situation is not that cut-and-dry. By taking the control away from the victims to decide whether to report their assault to the police, we are retraumatizing the survivors. When this happens, fewer survivors will choose to report.

The Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault (UCASA) has more information about this on its website. UCASA highlights that this bill goes against the most effective practice for addressing sexual assault. I encourage everyone to read the information sheet about this bill and then contact our representatives and ask them to vote against it.

Kimberly Sagers, Salt Lake City