Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Fallacy (2003)

Mariska Hargitay: Detective Olivia Benson

Quotes 

• Olivia Benson : You know the only one that came to support Cheryl was her sister?

  Elliot Stabler : And you.

  Olivia Benson : Yeah. But I'm not family.

• Sarah Avery : Detective?

  Olivia Benson : Sarah, right?

  Sarah Avery : My parents are wrong.

  Olivia Benson : You still talk to Cheryl?

  Sarah Avery : Yes, but if my parents knew, they'd kick me out too.

  Olivia Benson : Your parents said that Cheryl once beat somebody with a baseball bat.

  Sarah Avery : She cut through the field one day after school. The baseball team saw her and chased her. She had to grab a bat to defend herself.

  Olivia Benson : This kind of thing happen a lot?

  Sarah Avery : All the time, I mean, kids made fun of her like she was a big joke.

  Olivia Benson : Anybody ever hurt her physically?

  Sarah Avery : They beat the hell out of her whenever they could. I mean, she had to go to the hospital three times for stitches. I don't care what anybody says, she's the bravest person I know.

• Olivia Benson : [to Cabot about Cheryl]  I talked to her teachers. A sympathetic one suggested that she transfer to Harvey Milk, an alternative public school for gay and transgendered kids.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : So why didn't she go?

  Olivia Benson : Because her parents wouldn't let her.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Where are you going with this? All I need to know is whether or not Cheryl's been violent.

  Olivia Benson : Only in self-defense. One time, two boys held her up against a wall and pulled her pants down. Alex, this girl has been through hell.

• ADA Alexandra Cabot : My hands are tied. I can't move Cheryl to a women's prison.

  Olivia Benson : She was going to have surgery.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Unfortunately, she's still anatomically male. New York State determines a person's gender based on their genitals, not their feelings.

  Olivia Benson : So you're not going to do anything?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : There's nothing I can do. The law says she's not entitled to special treatment and I can't put a man in a women's prison.

  Olivia Benson : But Cheryl is not a man anymore.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Legally, she still is. Look, Berger has to fight it out with the Department of Corrections and I have to make an appearance. I will see what I can do.

• Cheryl Avery : [to Olivia]  Look, you have to help me, I cannot stay here.

  Olivia Benson : Cheryl, you pled guilty. You knew that you were going to prison.

  Cheryl Avery : I'm a woman and they put me in a cell with men.

  Olivia Benson : [to Berger]  You didn't tell her?

  Morty Berger : I told her to go to trial.

  Olivia Benson : Bull. You set her up for your own career. What, the murder case wasn't enough for you?

  Morty Berger : The civil rights issue is more pressing.

  Olivia Benson : Oh, and you're going to ride it all the way to the Supreme Court, aren't you?

  Morty Berger : Why not? This could be a precedent-setting case.

  Olivia Benson : Yeah, not to mention a juicy story. A woman in a man's prison? You'll have the media drooling.

• ADA Alexandra Cabot : [to Olivia]  Do you think I pushed Cheryl too hard?

  Olivia Benson : You did your job.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Then why do I feel so lousy?

  Olivia Benson : Because you look at Cheryl and you can't imagine what it's like to feel that your own body is a mistake.

• Elliot Stabler : Berger's gonna put witnesses up there for Cheryl or whatever his name is, to tell us all about how he grew up tormented, brutalized and treated like a freak.

  Olivia Benson : You know, it sounds like you have a problem with Cheryl.

  Elliot Stabler : My problem is this he-she and her lies are the reason we've got two dead bodies on our hands and I'm the one who's all jammed up?