Rape survivor: Seattle #CancelKavanaugh rally aims to change status quo

Seattleites marched to the Federal Building at Second and Madison Thursday evening to protest the confirmation of nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. Participants stood in solidarity with university professor Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault in testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Demonstration is leaving Westlake Park at 4th Ave and moving westbound on Pine St. Use alternate routes. pic.twitter.com/gUzwAPHXno

— SDOT Traffic (@SDOTtraffic) October 5, 2018

Anti-Kavanaugh rally about to march from Seattle’s Westlake Park to the Federal Building. Live at 6p on ⁦@KIRO7Seattle⁩ and https://t.co/RkwAEtiWXm pic.twitter.com/u7RQ2BJgNZ

— Essex J. Porter (@EssexKIRO7) October 5, 2018

Observing The Anti-Kavanaugh Protest at Seattle’s Westlake Park: CNN’s ⁦@wkamaubell⁩ pic.twitter.com/eDkNfu9A0p

— Essex J. Porter (@EssexKIRO7) October 5, 2018

Happening Now: anti-Kavanaugh rally gathers at Seattle’s Westlake Park. We’ll follow their march to the Federal Building live at 5p on ⁦@KIRO7Seattle⁩ and https://t.co/RkwAEtiWXm pic.twitter.com/HxCh5lLY3w

— Essex J. Porter (@EssexKIRO7) October 4, 2018

—- Original story —-

When Seattle resident Hilary Keyes volunteered to help organize the Seattle version of the national #CancelKavanaugh walkout and march on Thursday, Oct. 4, she wanted to start a movement that changes the way society looks at the testimonies of sexual assault survivors.

“It shows that people are not going to take it anymore — that we’re upsetting the status quo that it’s okay to have an elected official or a judge that’s going to get away with sexual assault, get away with lying,” she told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. “We’re not going to take it anymore and there’s power in numbers.”

Keyes speaks from experience; she said that she is a rape and sexual assault survivor. The #CancelKavanaugh rally, she explained, sends a message to other survivors “that people are listening and caring about these issues.”

RELATED: Rob McKenna on the political battlefield around the Kavanaugh decision

The walkout, which will see Seattleites walk out and gather at 4 p.m. at Westlake Park before marching together to the Federal Building at Second and Madison at 5 p.m., protests the confirmation of nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. Participants stand in solidarity with university professor Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault in testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Keyes firmly believes Ford “because she has uprooted her life; she has been extremely brave to come forward.” She pointed out that since coming forward with the sexual assault allegations,  Ford, her husband, and her children have been the victims of harassment and even death threats that have forced them to move out of their California home.

“I don’t think that there is a political reason that would get someone to put her and her family up against that,” Keyes said. “I find her extremely credible.”

However, Keyes said, even if she were not 100-percent sure that Ford is telling the truth, just the shadow of a doubt on Kavanaugh’s character, the chance that he is a sexual assailant, was enough for her to not want him as a judge on the highest court in the land.

As it is, she said, “multiple women have come out and said that he is and I’m going to believe those survivors … We don’t get to discredit these women.”

She also pointed out that multiple former classmates of Kavanaugh have stated this week that the Supreme Court nominee lied about his drinking habits in high school and college during his testimony.

RELATED: UW professor disputes Kavanaugh’s claims about his drinking habits

“That, in and of itself, you can’t confirm someone who’s going to lie,” Keyes said.

What Keyes wants to see is a “much more thorough and longer investigation” by the FBI. If Kavanaugh truly is innocent, she said, let that come out in the investigation, but don’t call the women liars without taking their claims seriously and fully investigating the allegations.

The main takeaway that Keyes aims for Seattleites to get from the #CancelKavanaugh walkout and march is that women are no longer going to stay silent and allow powerful men in this country to get away with sexual assault.

“This is not going to be the normal anymore,” she said. “We’re going to make sure that this does not happen again.”

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