N.C. Lawyer Starts #MeAt14 Campaign After Roy Moore Accusations

There are stories of being a bookworm. There are stories of loving the family. There are stories of feeling awkward at school. There are stories of being raped. They are filling Twitter feeds and Facebook pages and they all appear with #MeAt14.

It's a social media response to the accusation that Alabama Senate candidate Judge Roy Moore sexually molested a 14-year-old girl when he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney.
While Moore has denied the charge, which was first reported in a Washington Post article with on-the-record named accusers and was based on interviews with more than two dozen sources, many people believe the woman who only came forward when confronted by the Post recently.

Moore has denied the charge and several Alabama Republicans have come forward to say that even if he did what he's accused of, there's nothing wrong with it.

That did not sit well with Raleigh attorney Catherine Lawson, who decided to remind internet users of the inherent vulnerability and innocence in 14-year-old girls by posting a photo of herself at that age, the Raleigh News & Observer said.

“Can’t consent at 14. Not in Alabama. Not anywhere. #MeAt14,” her Nov. 9 tweet said.

“I shared a picture of me at 14 to illustrate there is no acceptable version of (Moore’s) story,” Lawson later told the newspaper. “Teenagers can’t consent to a relationship with a grown man, ever.”

It didn’t take long for #MeAt14 to go viral.

The photos include captions ranging from innocent remembrances of life at that age to dark stories of having been sexually assaulted.

"Not old enough to drive. Not old enough to work without a permit. Not old enough to see an R-rated movie. Not only enough to consent," read one.

"If she still needs a permission slip for a field trip, she CANNOT consent," another says.
I worshipped my brother," wrote actress Alyssa Milano. "I loved my dog, Pucci. I loved OMD. I had Big hair. I was happy. I was innocent."

Many are more sinister.

"Here's #MeAt14 playing at the park with friends," reads another. "This was the same summer my mom's boss saw me sucking on a lime wedge and said, 'any girl that can suck like that is going to be very popular in high school.'"

"When I was 14 a 37 year old man I met on the internet picked me up from my parent's house in the dead of night, drove me to his house and raped me," one woman wrote. "I had no idea what I was doing at the time and held onto that secret for 20 years. I was scared and ashamed."

Several expressed regret that this movement was even necessary.

"I like the #MeAt14 hashtag, but we live in dark times if women have to provide photographic evidence to prove children deserve a childhood," one woman wrote.

McConnell On Moore: 'I Believe The Women'

This report based on original reporting by Patch Editor Colin Miner

Photo of Roy Moore via Scott Olson/Getty Images News/Getty Images