Anti-Trump abuse vics: ‘Too’ big to ignore
ABUSE VICTIMS angered by President Trump’s endorsement of accused molester Roy Moore gathered Saturday for a #MeToo protest outside the developer’s Columbus Circle tower.
The demonstrators chanted and picketed outside the 52-story Trump International Hotel & Tower, urging other victims to break their silence and speak out about sexual abuse.
“Me too means you’re not alone,” said speaker Mary Quinn, addressing the crowd on a cold, snowy December afternoon. “‘Me too’ means you didn’t ask for it. Will you join me in saying ‘No more sexual harassment?’”
“No more!” the crowd chanted back at her. “No more!”
Many on hand were irate over Moore’s campaign for an open Senate seat in Alabama despite the sexual abuse charges brought against him by eight women.
One said she was only 14 when targeted by the Republican candidate — and none of the stories were enough to derail Moore’s candidacy with Alabama voters.
“That’s why people are afraid to come forward,” said Melissa Quesinberry of the National Organization for Women. “They’re afraid they won’t be believed.”
One woman claims Moore tried to shove her head into his crotch when she was a 16-yearold waitress at an Alabama restaurant.
Quesinberry noted that multiple women also came forward with tales of Trump’s tawdry sexual behavior only to watch voters elect him anyway.
The President has gone out of his way to throw his support behind Moore despite the vile accusations against him.
Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin, founder and CEO of The Gaia Project for Women’s Leadership, recounted the decision to take her attacker to court when she was just 19.
McLaughlin recalled that her purpose was stopping the abuser “from doing to anyone else what he had done to me.”
The whole experience morphed her into someone who would refuse to give an inch to the world’s predators.
“As I lay naked under the weight of my abuser, I knew somewhere deep in my bones that not only would I rise to one day fight, others would rise to fight as well,” she said.
“Make no mistake about it, I’m a warrior now. As the warrior I have become, I say this: You are seen. You are heard. You matter. You did nothing to deserve this.”
Jamia Wilson, the first woman of color to serve as executive director and publisher of the Feminist Press, held up a book with Anita Hill’s picture on the cover before addressing the crowd.
Hill famously testified during the 1991 confirmation hearings of now-Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was approved despite her allegations about his sexual harassment.
“I thank Anita Hill for speaking up and giving me something to name, something I’ve experienced many times,” Wilson said, referring to her own experiences.
“It makes me so sad that so much of what I said . . . on the 20th anniversary of Anita Hill is still true today.”
Quinn urged everyone in the crowd to find their voice and speak honestly for the common good.
“Nothing will stop us from finally being able to say what we have been forced to keep secret for decades,” she said. “Let’s break the silence. No more sexual abuse.”