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<\/p>\nBy Gabrielle Caumon and Ella Grady <\/p>\n
Photography By Gabrielle Caumon<\/p>\n
Reporting Texas<\/p>\n
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Sophia Strother (second from right) shares her story on sexual violence at a protest outside Austin City Hall. Lucas Armbruster\/Reporting Texas<\/p>\n
Sexual assault survivor Samantha McCoy led protesters at Austin City Hall on Thursday in the wake of the Jane Doe case at Cornell University \u2014 but insisted that her organizing efforts weren\u2019t just for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe march for those who could not be here,\u201d said McCoy, who organized Thursday\u2019s protest at Austin City Hall. \u201cWe march for those who never got justice. We march for those who never got a chance to tell their story, and we march because change has never come from silence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Survivors and supporters planned to march toward the State Capitol and the University of Texas campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do I move on when I deal every day with a permanent disability from my rape?\u201d said survivor Sophia Strother.<\/p>\n
Strother said she was raped twice, abused and trafficked since childhood. She said she has endured over 15 surgeries in an interview with Reporting Texas. She said she could not march because her 16th procedure would be completed following the protest.<\/p>\n
She said the first time occurred at age 13 in 1993 on the campus of Springfield College in Massachusetts, and that her case was left without justice.<\/p>\n
The second time: New Year\u2019s Day, 2021, in Austin.<\/p>\n
While some rape victims are allowed by the courts to take part in their cases anonymously, Strother said she did not receive that protection during her Austin case trial on Nov. 23, 2023.<\/p>\n
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\u201cDuring my trial, he got to see my date of birth, Social Security number, my address and my license plate number,\u201d Strother said. \u201cHe got access to all of me in my trial. And after that, bank fraud, identity theft.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strother explained that her perpetrator was released on bond, even though guilty of aggravated sexual assault. It took two years for the trial to come to light, just like Jane Doe.<\/p>\n
McCoy, an Associate Attorney at Texas-based law firm Nadler Nelson<\/a>, is a member of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault<\/a>. She said she was a college student when she was forcibly raped and recorded while unconscious.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat followed taught me something about how our society treats survivors,\u201d McCoy said.<\/p>\n Tracy Perez, one of the marchers, carried an \u201cI am Jane Doe\u201d poster. Gabrielle Caumon\/Reporting Texas<\/p>\n \u201cI was asked a question I will never forget: Well, if you were unconscious, then haven\u2019t you doubted you didn\u2019t consent?\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n After her experience, McCoy said she has spent her lifetime in advocacy work. She noted that her causes have gained worldwide interest in the wake of the Cornell case, in which a student said she was assaulted by fraternity members without her consent, and the recent allegations by a Louisiana State University student that she was raped by a current member of the college\u2019s football team.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_8825-210x315.jpg\")
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