Woman who was told her rape was a 'good thing' by Southern Baptist leader files lawsuit

[TexasTowelie]

A woman who said she was threatened and humiliated after reporting multiple rapes to former Southern Baptist Convention president Paige Patterson has filed a lawsuit against him.

The lawsuit, which was filed by a former student of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, was unsealed this week.

It says the woman was the victim of multiple violent sexual assaults on the school’s campus by a fellow student, who also was employed at the seminary, in 2014 and 2015. But even before she became a student, the lawsuit says, the seminary “was not a safe place for young women.”

“Void of even the most basic standards of support for victims required by state and federal law, SWBTS had put in place a construct in which sexual harassment and violence were ignored — or at times — even celebrated by its leaders,” the lawsuit says. “Through intimidation and victim-blaming, any young woman who dared speak up was shamed into silence.”

Read more: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article231828678.html

[CDerekGo]

1. I certainly hope

this is the beginning of more than just one woman coming forward from SWBTS to voice their sexual harassment, and violence. I don't even care when any of this happened. The fact that it happened, and that it these women were shamed into keeping quiet. I want to see more than resignations, I'd love to see jail terms.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. At least they fired the bastid, but even that was fought by some.

Patterson was removed as the SBC president last year because of how he handled sex abuse claims, including an email in which he reportedly asked to meet with a student to “break her down” after she said she was raped.

That woman is referred to in the lawsuit by the pseudonym Jane Roe.

Patterson threatened Roe’s family and asked if her attacker had ejaculated during the reported rapes, the lawsuit says. He also told her that it was a “good thing” the rape happened because the right man won’t care if she’s a virgin or not. The suit claims Patterson seemed to get joy out of asking Roe uncomfortable questions.

An attorney for the woman told the Star-Telegram in 2018 that Patterson sent around an email calling the woman’s mother “nuts.”