A rally was held in Billings in support of ending child abuse campaigned for stiffer sentences for sex crimes against children.
"Folks we have a real hidden enemy lurking in the shadows right here in Billings," Billings End Childhood Sexual Abuse (BECSA) found Carrie Taylor said to a group on the Yellowstone County Courthouse lawn. "That enemy being pedophilia and the sexual abuse of our kids."
The group then marched through Billings chanting, "Children are not for sale."
The message is to the state legislature and others who can hold abusers accountable.
The concern is with trafficking exploitation and abuse.
"There's a stigma in our society that sexual abuse just doesn't happen in your neighborhood or to your family," said Mason Miller, BECSA advocate. "But it does. It happens all around in every social group, in every economic group. It happens. When people that have committed heinous crimes against children get one year sentences or probation, that's wrong. You know and I think we all notice that and I think that's why there are so many people rallying behind this cause."
Miller said the demonstration in Billings comes on the same day as about 100 others across the country.
