Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis, left, and three rape victims spoke at Dallas City Hall Plaza on Tuesday, Aug. 12, as Davis’ first televised ads in the governor’s race began airing around the state. The ad focuses on then-Texas Supreme Court Justice Greg Abbott’s opinion that a company employing a door-to-door salesman convicted of raping a woman in her home was not liable for not having done a background check on the man. Abbott, a Republican, is the state’s current attorney general and is running against Davis for governor. In the Texas Senate, Davis sponsored legislation that became law requiring all hospitals with emergency rooms to provide rape kits. Additional legislation required those rape kits to be tested and victims are notified the testing procedure is ongoing. Rape victim Courtney Underwood, second from left, is co-founder of the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center. She also helped establish the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner — or SANE — program at Presbyterian Hospital. Underwood said Tuesday that one in four women and one in 10 men are victims of sexual assault. Those numbers are two to three times higher among the LGBT community and three to four times higher among homeless LGBT youth. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition August 15, 2014.