Gloria Allred said she is confident there are many women who are victims of violence at the hands of NFL players who have never spoken out. Her experience tells her many never will.
But if they do want to talk, she said, she'll gladly listen.
And if it bothers people that it was she who called a news conference in Atlanta on Wednesday to demand that the NFL give voice to the victims of abuse at the hands of its players? Well, she told espnW.com as she headed to the airport Wednesday night, she doesn't really care.
"I've been doing this for 38 years, and as a private law firm, we have handled more women's rights cases than anyone over the last 10 years," Allred said. "So do I care [that people accuse her of being interested only in publicity]? No. I do not allow victims to suffer in silence if they wish to speak out and if I can help. I make no apologies to help victims with no voice. They have a right to be heard."
Allred, a civil rights attorney well known for taking on high-profile discrimination cases, called for the resignation of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for, among other things, ignoring pleas by victims. She used as her Exhibit A the friend and father of an alleged victim of abuse by then-Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall (he was acquitted of the charges) in 2008, both of whom claimed they personally contacted Goodell but that the commissioner never launched an investigation or interviewed the victim or witnesses.
"The point of today was to talk about the process," she said. "What kind of investigating does the NFL actually do? What rights are these victims afforded? That's not being discussed."
Allred reiterated that the parties involved are not pursuing a lawsuit.
"That's not my motive and not my plan," she said. "I'm not suing the NFL and not making any claim against the NFL. What we did today was try to provide a voice for victims and to try to get the NFL to understand it needs to have a fair hearing process and not shut out victims. I meant in their deeds, not words.
"Are they going to change the process?"
Allred said the NFL is hiding behind the idea that it must afford its players "due process" by the judicial system.
"It's not even true they do that because Adrian Peterson didn't have a trial and [the Vikings deactivated] him," she said of Minnesota's actions Wednesday regarding its star running back, who faces child abuse charges. "So they can't even say that's policy.
"I point to the Title IX model [for hearings by colleges when students make allegations of rape or sexual assault on campus] where it doesn't even matter what's happening in the criminal justice system or if nothing is happening. They still have the duty to have their own independent investigation."
Allred said her choice to hold Wednesday's news conference at a Radisson hotel -- the chain that said it was suspending its sponsorship of the Vikings on Monday while it "evaluated" the Peterson case -- was no coincidence. But she said it will take more than companies hitting the NFL in the proverbial wallet.
"It's going to take the public speaking out constantly about the need for change."