To be sure, survivors are not taking for granted the notion that a Democratic Congress would move such measures forward. But they have recognized that they might have some say about that.
“Survivors are powerful,” said Elisa Batista, the campaign director of UltraViolet, a gender equity nonprofit that worked with Giuffre’s brothers to organize a vigil for her. “We have the numbers. Please vote.”
After a campaign from feminist organizations including UltraViolet, Apple implemented new App Store restrictions on “nudify” apps that can generate nonconsensual intimate imagery. Now, Google must do the same on its Play Store.
When the doors to the Hart Senate Office Building opened at 7:30 a.m. last Friday, a few protesters making a final show of opposition to the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh were waiting to be let in. As they waited, a woman named Maria Gallagher, with dark hair and glasses, introduced herself to me. She told me she lived in the area and had taken the morning off from work in response to a call to action from the progressive organizations MoveOn and UltraViolet. I asked if she was planning to get arrested—many of those visiting the building that day were prepared for civil disobedience. She said “no.” She had told her employer that she would be in by noon.
The support for Kavanaugh though, seemed outnumbered by the people at the Senate who turned out for Ford. Organized by activist groups like the Women’s March, Planned Parenthood and Ultraviolet, they poured into the Senate buildings before heading to the Supreme Court, where they chanted, “You won’t silence us! No means no.” At one point, a subset of demonstrators sat in the middle of the street in front of the Supreme Court singing “we shall not be moved.”
Ramirez, 53, told The New Yorker that Kavanaugh exposed himself during a drunken dormitory party at Yale University in the early 1980s, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away.
The plane with the support message for Ramirez was commissioned by UltraViolet, a women’s advocacy group that supports sexual assault survivors. The group also paid for a similar message for Ford that flew over Palo Alto, Calif. last week.
The group, UltraViolet, is prepared to project “Kavanaugh is a sexual predator and well documented liar” on the Supreme Court building on Tuesday night, the group said in an announcement.
The projection will also read: “He lied every time he testified,” and “Kavanaugh must withdraw.”
DES MOINES, Iowa — After two women made allegations that Supreme Court Nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted them, protesters say they want Senator Chuck Grassley to know they don’t believe Kavanaugh has the country’s best interests at heart.
“We ask that you publicly oppose Kavanaugh and call to cancel the vote on his confirmation. Kavanaugh already poses a threat to millions of people, especially women,” Peggy Schmitt from UltraViolet said during the protest.
The protests brought together women and men across the country for rallies and a walkout organized by a coalition that included Tarana Burke, the founder of the #MeToo movement, UltraViolet Action, Planned Parenthood and MoveOn.
“I think it has soured me on her a little that I don’t actually see her opposing his behavior or his appointees in any meaningful ways. I mean it’s one thing to be appalled at his tweets, but what are you doing about his appointees, what are you doing about his policies? So certainly since 2016 things have changed,” she says.
The protest, organized by Mainers for Accountable Leadership and the national women’s group UltraViolet Action, is part of an ongoing campaign to pressure Collins to vote against Kavanaugh, who has now been accused of sexual assault by two women.
Over the weekend, the progressive group UltraViolet launched an ad campaign telling Republican senators: “Don’t put another sexual predator on the Supreme Court.” It’s a digital ad in Maine but is airing on television in Nevada, Arizona and West Virginia.
“Ramirez’s story is yet more proof that Kavanaugh should have already withdrawn his nomination and his wholly disqualified from holding any office in government, let alone one on the highest court in the country,” Shauna Thomas, the executive director and cofounder of UltraViolet, a women’s group participating in Monday’s protests, said. “Now is the time for Republicans in the Senate to make it clear that they believe women and find violence against women wholly unacceptable demanding Kavanaugh withdraw his nomination immediately.
“You don’t bring your character reference in for the people you’re interviewing for a job in order to cross examine their experience with the candidate,” says UltraViolet executive director and co-founder Shaunna Thomas. “You take it for what it is, you access whether or not you think what they have to say about that candidate is disqualifying, and then you make your choice.”
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