On the heels of Tuesday's vice-presidential candidates' debate, in which GOP vice presidential contender Mike Pence vehemently denied running mate Donald Trump's numerous controversial comments and doubled down on his own doggedly anti-abortion position, activists made a colorful plea to voters on behalf of women and minorities.

Standing outside the Trump campaign's Tampa office off of North Dale Mabry, they railed against Trump's many comments disparaging women.

They even managed to get inside the building that houses Trump's local campaign office, where they posed alongside a life-size cardboard cutout of Trump, though no media were allowed in.

At the press conference beforehand, longtime Tampa activist Kelly Benjamin donned a red gown, blonde wig and faux pig snout, a nod to Trump's reportedly having called former Miss Universe Alicia Machado "Miss Piggy," among other things, after she had gained some weight in the year she was Miss Universe. He ran through a litany of other insults Trump has hurled at women over the years.

“We have a guy who's running for president who refers to women as pigs, dogs, slobs. It's pretty disgusting,” he said. “…America can do a lot better than a sexist pig like Donald Trump for president.”

Others who spoke included Susan McGrath, head of the Pinellas County Stonewall Democrats as well as that county's Democratic Executive Committee. She said being there wasn't about helping her party win on Nov. 8; it was about preventing the rollback of a decades-long fight for equality for women, one that continues to this day as women deal with lack of equal pay to that of men, as well as social stigmas and double standards.

“Women have fought too hard, and too long, and have only had the right to vote for less than 100 years," she said. "And in those less than 100 years, we've fought an uphill battle where women have been called too aggressive, too hard, too nice, spent too much time on their career, not enough time with their kids, are considered irrational, aggressive, emotional, need to stay in their place. This has been a hard-fought battle. Now in 2016, we have a candidate for president who wants to take us back.”

Trump's many comments about women's appearances and weight — not to mention his calling having children bad for business and repeated referring to women as trophies or sex objects — obviously make him unfit to be president, the activists said.

And so, too, do his positions on women's healthcare, they said, namely his past comments that women should be punished for having abortions (which he later walked back, seemingly citing a lack of understanding on the issue) and his vowing to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which gives many women access to birth control and guarantees every woman an annual Well Woman exam.

And while they didn't mention Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by name, the activists urged voters to go to the polls in order to prevent Trump and Pence from being elected.

"Even though people may not agree with either candidate, that happens every election, but that shouldn't deter you from voting, because you're voting for so much more than president of the United States or his running mate or her running mate,” said Sarah Zaharako.

This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 7, 2016.