‘GENDER-MOTIVATED VIOLENCE’

Appeals Court Rules Paul Haggis Must Face ‘Hate-Crime’ Claim in Rape Suit

His accuser has achieved a precedent-setting victory.

Academy Award-winning director Paul Haggis must face his rape accuser’s claim that he committed a gender-motivated hate crime under the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, a New York appeals court has ruled. The decision is a precedent-setting victory for accuser and publicist Haleigh Breest. She has alleged that Haggis raped her in his Manhattan apartment in January 2013 after the premiere of the movie Side Effects and that the assault was an act of gender-motivated violence. New York appellate judge Peter Moulton wrote in Thursday’s decision that “rape and sexual assault are, by definition, actions taken against the victim without the victim’s consent.” Moultin continued: “Without consent, sexual acts such as those alleged in the complaint are a violation of the victim’s bodily autonomy and an expression of the perpetrator’s contempt for that autonomy. Coerced sexual activity is dehumanizing and fear-inducing. Malice or ill will based on gender is apparent from the alleged commission of the act itself. Animus inheres where consent is absent.”