The scene outside the Union League in Center City, Philadelphia on Monday evening was eerily quiet as protesters stood in the costumes they had spent months making, heads bowed and holding hands. The demonstrators were dressed in costumes from The Handmaid's Tale series on Hulu – based on Margaret Atwood's novel of the same name — and were evoking the dystopian world in which women are deprived of rights by a fundamentalist state to protest Vice President Mike Pence, who was in town stumping for U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, the GOP candidate running against U.S. Senator Bob Casey in this year's midterm elections.

After Pence entered the Union League via the front steps and was booed by the crowd, organizer Samantha Goldman of Refuse Fascism Philly led the protesters in a chant.

Those wearing The Handmaid's Tale garb discarded their robes in a pile at their feet and began to raise their voices in condemning Trump and Pence's anti-woman and anti-LGBTQ policies, including the recent nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court. 

"What we are facing is a fascist regime," said Samantha Goldman, one of the organizers of the protest. In addition to protesting Trump and Pence's oppression of women's and LGBTQ rights, speakers also condemned the administration's immigration policy.

PA Rep. Brian Sims also spoke, telling the Vice President that "on behalf of all of Philadelphia...get out." 

Refuse Fascism Philly organized the protest with National Organization for Women - Philadelphia, the Delaware County chapter of National Organization for Women, and the support of several other organizations.