New Jersey’s new first lady said Saturday she was a victim of sexual violence while attending college. Tammy Murphy told her story while speaking at a women’s march rally in Morristown.
“Until today, only a few have heard my story,” Murphy told the hushed crowd of several thousand people. “Now, you all know. I tell this today not for me, but really for all of you. Surely, among us is a woman who has been silent about her own story.”
According to CBS New York, she said she was walking along a path when a man grabbed her and pulled her into the bushes.
Though she could see people in the distance through a window at a party nearby, Murphy said no one could hear her screams.
The man allegedly tried to take her clothes off and attempted to put a crab apple in her mouth to silence her, she said. But she said she bit his hand and fled, half-dressed, to a nearby fraternity house, where students called police.
Citing the “attitudes of the time,” Murphy said her assailant never faced justice. However, she said he was later convicted for another crime.
The rally was among several in New Jersey and dozens that were staged nationwide Saturday. The activists were hoping to create an enduring political movement that will elect more women to government office.
Many marchers in Morristown wore pink cat-ear hats as a show of solidarity, while others carried signs stating opposition to President Donald Trump and his policies. The scene was similar at rallies in Leonia, Monroe and Ocean City.
The wife of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy was introduced to the crowd by her husband, who was sworn into office Tuesday.
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