Union Sickened By Gang Rape Story
By WENNFriday, November 6, 2009
GABRIELLE UNION has stepped up her anti-rape activism after a headlines about a “sickening” gangbang at a school party brought back horrific memories of her own teenage sexual assault.
The Cradle 2 The Grave star was 19 when she was raped at gunpoint by a man who attacked her as she was closing up a store where she worked.
Union has been very vocal about the ordeal in the past and news stories about other teenagers who are raped brings the painful memory back.
And when the actress read about a 15 year old who was gang raped as she waited for her father after a school dance, she was left “sad more than anything”.
Schoolmates and passersby are believed to have watched the ordeal, but it wasn’t until a dance organiser overheard one boy talking about what he had seen outside that the police were called.
In a blog, Union writes, “After googling the gang rape story in Richmond and reading comments on blogs, it just leaves me sickened and really sad.
“When I was 19 years old, I was raped. I was working at a shoe store in California, and the store was robbed. The person robbing the store ended up putting a gun to my head and raping me… I blanked out and had an out-of-body experience, like I was hovering above seeing this horrible thing happen to someone else… not me.
“That’s why I now lobby for state legislatures across the country and the federal government to help raise funds and awareness for rape crisis centres.
“My goal is to never hear the words ‘Me too’ from someone, after I say, ‘I was raped.’”