Chants of “Intoxication is not consent!” were heard Thursday at a rally in Concourse near the Bronx County Courthouse, in which elected officials and community advocates renewed calls to pass legislation they say would strengthen protections for sexual assault victims.
State Sen. Nathalia Fernandez and Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz are helping to lead the effort to address a gap that limits prosecution when a victim becomes intoxicated and is not capable of providing consent.
“The time is now, and we are ready to do this,” said Fernandez. “New Yorkers need this; our survivors need this. We deserve to give it to them.”
The gathering came just days after prosecutors in upstate New York said they were reopening an investigation into an alleged gang rape at a Cornell University fraternity in 2024. It also comes in the wake of a civil lawsuit filed against Cornell and seven men who were fraternity members at the time.
The lawsuit claimed the university failed to protect a female undergraduate, who was only 20 years old at the time of the alleged rape.
“If you are voluntarily intoxicated,” said Dinowitz, “you went to a party, you just drank too much, you took drugs, whatever, you will not get justice in New York because of the way our law is written!”
Dinowitz said New York needs to join the majority of other states with laws that equate voluntary intoxication with involuntary intoxication, and he hopes the public outcry over the alleged rape at Cornell University will compel lawmakers to enact change.
“How often do we hear that we can’t get a traffic light put in until somebody is killed, somebody is run over,” said Dinowitz. “It’s kinda like that here.”
Cornell University graduate student Nicole Lin told NY1 she is in favor of policy changes that would protect victims of sexual violence.
“The outrage from outside Cornell is being misdirected a little bit,” Lin said. “It is focusing more on the faculty and students rather than the institutions and policies that kind of failed Jane Doe.”
Fernandez and Dinowitz said that when they get back to Albany, addressing the legislation will be a top priority for them.