Gael Murphy, a resident of Washington, D.C., is an anti-war activist with Code Pink who has planned or participated in many of its high-profile protests and activities against the Iraq War.
Murphy worked in the Peace Corps and later as a public health officer in Zaire and Central America. She also was a foreign service officer and an aid contractor, gaining first hand experience of the mishandling of America's public policy.[1]
In 2002 she helped coordinate Code Pink's Women's Peace Vigil held across from the White House. She heads up the group's D.C. office. She is also a member of its executive committee. A Salon writer who interviewed Murphy in 2008 described her as a "warmly robust, welcoming and intelligent presence with a firm handshake" who was tough enough for hard questioning.[2]
In 2004 Murphy was the lead protester speaking out at a Senate hearing featuring then United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.[3]
In 2004 she was arrested with fellow Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin inside The Republican National Convention.[4] She also participated in protests against the 2008 Republican convention.[5]
At an antiwar protest rally during United States President Barack Obama's Inauguration where protesters threw shoes at a balloon replica of George W. Bush, Murphy told protesters "Hold on to your shoes. The struggle is not over."[6]
Murphy is among the activists featured in an anti-war documentary film, Finding Our Voices.[7]