Big update on Rape Crisis legal challenge

[IamSarah]

I know many of you have been waiting for an update so first of all thank you for your patience and the many messages of support.

I am suing Survivors Network, the Sussex Rape Crisis service, as it refused to offer a single sex women’s group in addition to the mixed sex women’s groups. By mixed sex I mean inclusive of any males who identify as women.

I’ve been granted anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the case and it was submitted to Brighton County Court today.

I am being represented by law firm Didlaw and my Barrister is Naomi Cunningham (Chair of Sex Matters). So far they have acted pro bono which I am incredibly grateful for as it has taken a lot of time. The team are confident I have a good case but this is unchartered territory for women’s rights.

Many of you have very kindly offered to be involved and help with gardening. I don’t think I’m allowed to share details on here so please go to my Twitter page http://twitter.com/SarahSurviving/ which has all the info in a pinned post.

Of you’re not on Twitter feel free to send me a DM for more information on how you can help the case. Any publicity you can give the crowd funder would really help.

Thank you everyone.

Sarah x

Oh some gardening has been done! Good luck Sarah xx

Bumping again.... 🌺🌻🌷

Donated again. Hopefully there will be plenty of people like me who have been following Allison's case and are feeling strongly motivated to donate if they can. Wishing you all the best Sarah.

Donated. All the best Sarah!

Donated again - it's getting so, so close to the target.

the stretch target is now £750,000 ?? !! what happened???

I hope that's an error because that feels like an unexpected gut punch.

No update to explain the massive £750,000 target. This does not seem very transparent to me.

me too .... surely only £75 000?

@IamSarah can you just check out your crowd funder target. I will support you all the way, but £750k seems like quite the stretch target. Allisons was a 20 day affair with a cast of thousands and was £500k.

I'd be surprised if this isn't a mistake - with 1 day to go, it would be strange to have such a huge jump.

I saw that too. Technical glitch, is my guess.

Yikes I have no idea! I can't access the crowd justice platform myself. I will check with my legal team asap tomorrow.

thank you Sarah!

I'm wondering if someone sabotaged it.

I took a look as I'd heard time was short, still work to do and then was defeated by what I saw so didn't donate. But I will once this is clarified.

It's back to £75,000 target now. It says 2 days to go, so a bit more time for gardening.

It has now exceeded the £50,000 initial target though which is amazing!

Error is now fixed. Just rushing to do the school run but will give a longer update later.

Incredible

Have planted some 🌻 for you @IamSarah, wishing you all the very best in your courageous battle for what is right.

Congratulations on reaching the first target!

Right full update!

First of all a huge THANK YOU to the gardeners and everyone who has shared my case online. Reaching £50k was a big milestone and means I can afford to pay my legal fees.

Unlike Survivors Network who have a huge international law firm acting for them pro bono, I have to pay my own legal costs. I have an amazing team of women working on my case and they can now be paid for the litigation.

The stretch target has been increased to £75k. (Not £750k!)

The figure showing briefly last night was an error and apologies to anyone who felt misled by it. It was a shock for me too. The stretch target is to ensure there are enough funds on file to cover all bases including any adverse costs that may be awarded if the case is unsuccessful.

I will continue to be as transparent as I can and share everything I know about the case.

Many of the women on this thread have been there for me right from the beginning and I feel like we’re all on this journey together. Having your support has been invaluable. Thank you again x

Another profitable day for lawyers and a waste fo money and time for a charity. You cannot force a rape crisis centre to provide a service based on your needs. The EA allows them to choose to if they wish to discriminate for a legitimate aim. There is no legal compulsion to do so. I see another rape support service (Rape Crisis Surrey and Sussex (RCSAS)) which did offer female only services in Sussex has had to shut down, I'm guessing 75k would have gone a long way to keeping them open....

Do enlighten us, Disgusted, what would be a legitimate aim in excluding women who need single sex environment from rape counselling?

DoM, as ever, having opinions on how women should spend their money. DoM is rock solid, of course, that it should never be expended upon women's sex-based rights and correcting the policy failings that have led to this current deplorable state for women who are seeking support for coping with rape trauma.

Sarah, I'm so pleased that you've assembled such a formidable legal team.