{“subject”:”[The Georgia Sun] Contact The Georgia Sun”,”ip”:”216.77.93.66″,”country_code”:null,”user_agent”:”Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/145.0.0.0 Safari/537.36″,”notification_recipients”:[],”entry_title”:”Contact The Georgia Sun”,”entry_page”:1,”source_id”:32245,”source_type”:”single”,”request_url”:”https://thegeorgiasun.com/contact-the-georgia-sun”,”fields”:[{“key”:”1_Name”,”label”:”Name”,”value”:”Hayle Swinson”,”type”:”name”,”meta”:[],”form_field_id”:”g32245-name”},{“key”:”2_Email”,”label”:”Email”,”value”:”hayle@clergylawreform.org”,”type”:”email”,”meta”:[],”form_field_id”:”g32245-email”},{“key”:”3_Message”,”label”:”Message”,”value”:”Dear The GA Sun, \r\n \r\nI want to personally thank you all again for covering my story regarding the abuse I experienced at Truett McConnell University.\r\n\r\nIf it were not for journalists and others willing to shine light into dark places, meaningful change would never begin. Your reporting did more than tell a story \u2014 it helped create accountability and opened the door for reform. I remain deeply grateful for the integrity and care you brought to covering this issue.\r\n\r\nI wanted to share an important update.\r\n\r\nIn the months following your coverage, I\u2019ve connected with additional advocates and whistleblowers across Georgia who have experienced or witnessed similar abuse within faith-based institutions. Together, we have been working with lawmakers to pursue legislative reform.\r\n\r\nOn February 20, Georgia State Senator Randy Robertson introduced Senate Bill 542 (SB 542). The bill would amend Georgia\u2019s criminal code to allow clergy members to be charged with certain sexual offenses when they exploit a position of spiritual authority.\r\n\r\nIn short, SB 542 clarifies that when a clergy member engages in sexually explicit conduct or sexual contact with someone who is the subject of a pastoral counseling or spiritual authority relationship, criminal charges may apply. The legislation has already secured 24 co-sponsors in the Georgia State Senate.\r\n\r\nI\u2019ve attached a press release with additional details, and more information is available at: https://clergylawreform.org/\r\n\r\nOur hope is to close the legal gaps that allowed harm to occur \u2014 not only in my case, but in many others across Georgia. With continued public awareness and responsible reporting, we believe meaningful reform is possible.\r\n\r\nThank you again for your role in bringing these issues to light. Following our previous conversation, I will provide you with additional information. Stay Tuned! \r\n\r\nWith gratitude,\r\nHayle Swinson”,”type”:”textarea”,”meta”:[],”form_field_id”:”g32245-message”}]}