Rachael Denhollander is nothing less than a hero. It’s so sad and disgusting that in order to be believed, she had to make her medical records and teenage diaries public, but she did and she won. It breaks my heart that she has so many sister survivors, but I am so proud of her for inspiring all those other women to…

I hope every single USAG board member is fired and replaced with people like Denhollander and Raisman. You’re right; it’s the only way to fix it.

I think they also convince themselves that these people are the best. Sure, you can hire another doctor or another coach, but will they be as good? Will they get your athletes to perform at a gold medal level? USAG has tended to stick with the devil they knew.

I completely agree. I think the judge saw the gross miscarriage of justice happening with MSU and USAG and used her unique powers to give a survivors a platform to enable change. She is the advocate these girls needed but never got.

Thanks for sharing. Gymnastics needs more coaches like Miss Val who can treat her athletes like human beings and still win.

The victim statements were never supposed to last this long, but more and more people keep coming forward, wanting to speak. It’s an incredible thing.

It’s up to the discretion of the judge.

Women’s gymnastics has a squeaky clean, all-American image, and USAG’s job is to win gold medals and make money. Firing your team doctor because he’s a pedophile hurts your brand, and when you’re a once-every-4-years sport, you can’t afford any slip-ups.

Counterpoint: Knowing whether someone dabbles in white supremacy is always relevant.

Are you really going down the road of “this form of child rape isn’t as bad as that form of child rape?

This. I definitely believe that you can be close friends with someone without knowing about their illegal habits. However, I don’t believe that John Geddert didn’t know.

The sexualisation of the sport of gymnastics is part of the problem here. These girls were children and athletes, not “half-naked little girls contorting themselves.” I feel very strongly that these girls’ stories weren’t taken seriously for a long time partially because of the sexism that’s so deeply entangled with…

TAKE YOUR STUPID STAR

This is the same governor who’s the reason Flint STILL does not have clean drinking water.

It sounds like she has a pretty cushy lifestyle. Maybe it’s worth it to her to put on a happy face at social occasions in exchange for a fabulous home and the luxury of getting to do whatever she wants with her time. Plus, it benefited him to be viewed as a married family man. They’re essentially living separate…

Your comment makes me happy. She has been crushing it during this trial and sentencing process. She has been so professional and empathetic to the victims. A different judge could’ve easily made this matter so much worse for the victims, so I really applaud Judge Aquilina for her conduct.

awww I love that! My brother is a Marine (just left active duty and joined the reserves). I’ll have to show him this.

It’s generally up to the discretion of the judge.

Correct. He intentionally ripped off the thing, but did not intentionally expose her breast.

He did intentionally rip it off because it was a tear-away bodice. The whole black corset part was supposed to come off, but it malfunctioned somehow, and the cup came off, exposing her breast. It wasn’t really his fault or anyone’s fault; it was quite literally a wardrobe malfunction. Shit happens in live theatre,…