* Click here for background if you need it. From NewsRadio 780…

A Democratic state senator says she is sharing her story for the first time about being date-raped in 1991 because she takes issue with statements made several years ago by the Republican candidate for Illinois Attorney General.

“I just shared that for the first time in 27 years. I didn’t expect me to do that.” […]

The 50-year-old Lightford on Thursday said she felt compelled to talk about her rape, after hearing about past comments made by attorney general candidate Erika Harold, that many victims of sexual harassment become “very promiscuous.” Harold, 38, reportedly made the comment when she was 22.

“It did the total opposite for me,” Lightford said.

* I have the transcript of her full remarks. I talked with Sen. Lightford yesterday to make sure she was OK with me posting this here. You can also listen to her tell her story by clicking here…

LIGHTFORD: Yeah, you know I just shared that for the first time in 27 years. I didn’t expect me to do that. But when I just learned of her, I just sat on the couch and I listened to the story that ran on CBS 2, and she was 22 years old when she made those comments. And then what come up to my mind was I was 23 years old when I was date raped. And I wasn’t looking to be date raped.

I had just graduated from Western Illinois University. I came home for the summer and I was celebrating. And I met a guy during Spring Break while I was home. And back then there were no pagers and cellphones and Twitters and emails and all of that. So, either you would get collect calls or calls would come in or you would make collect calls. So he called me a couple times and we became friends over the next 3-4 months. And so he’s like ‘well when you graduate we’re going to celebrate’ you know. So I used some of my graduation money and bought me a great outfit to go out and celebrate. And I met him at a club downtown on Michigan Avenue. We had a great time. There were other people at the club I knew. We danced and drank champagne. It was all a celebration. I was the first in my family to earn a degree.

And so when the party was over he says ‘Well let’s go grab a bite to eat and instead of going in separate cars, just get in the car with me and I’ll bring you back to your car.’ Okay, no problem. So, while I was in the car with him he hopped on the highway and we were going far south and I wasn’t really familiar as much at that age with the South Side of Chicago. I had one relative that lived at 8040 S. Vernon. I remember my uncles’ address, my great uncle.

And so when we passed 95th Street I’m thinking ‘where are we going?’ And then the split happened. I don’t know if I went 57 South or the other way. I don’t know. But we started driving a little bit. So I asked him “Where are going to eat? Why are we going so far from downtown?’ You know there was a lot of eateries down there. So he went ‘oh, well I’ve got to stop by the house.’ And I said ‘oh okay.’

So he drives and wherever we get off, I’ve never been in this area at that time of my life. But when we pulled up to the house, it was a corner house, we just pulled right into the garage, attached garage. So I didn’t expect anything. My feet were hurting and I was taking my shoes off in the car. So I pulled my shoes back on and go on in the house.

And it just looked a little abandoned to me, a little bit to me, like coming through the kitchen. And I thought ‘is this how this guy living?’ You know. His house look a little, you know. So he directed us, I guess it was a kitchen and then a hall. And the bedroom was immediately to the right. And then he directed us in there. And went in there and it’s only a bed and it looked really like doom and gloom and I can see over him a little bit into like what would be the living room I guess, or the dining room, of the house. And it was just an abandoned looking house. And so now the red flag really pops up and we’re in the room and I’m just standing there.

And I say ‘Well are you gonna just go ahead and do whatever you need to do so we can go? Because I’m getting a little hungry.’ And he said ‘Oh, well, oh gee, your feet hurt, have a seat. Take your shoes back off.’ And I was like ‘Oh, I’m fine.’ You know. And he was like ‘Have a seat, you’ll be okay.’ And then I sat down and I kept my shoes on and he says ‘Take your shoes off.’ And I was like ‘Well are we going to be much longer?’

And he did like this call. I don’t know this like ‘whoody who’ call or some kind of call. And this guy appears at the door with a pitbull. And I was afraid from that point. And he had the door open and the guy must have come up from the basement because he left that door open. And I can hear all these male voices. And the first thing that came to mind was ‘I’m in a drug house and I could either be gang raped or he could let the dog out on me. Like would anybody know?’ Because I didn’t have, back then there were no pagers or cellphones, or anything. So I wouldn’t have been able to get any help. And I didn’t know where I was.

And my celebration from graduating from college, I just…. And I thought I knew him. It had been months of friendships and conversations. And so the guy left, and they said some things to each other. And the guy left. And he closed the door and said, ‘Well just lay down and relax.’ And I said,’I just want to leave. I think we outta just go get something to eat and just leave.’ And he said ‘No, be still.’ And he told me to be quiet and he raped me.

And after he raped me, we got back in the car. And I just sat there and cried silently. And then we got back to the car and he drove me back to my car. And I got in my car like, ‘What the hell just happened?’

I had only had two sex partners in my life and I had never been taken advantage of like that before. And it was more of ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have went with him’ but I thought he was my friend and I knew him and we were just celebrating. We were supposed to go to get something to eat. And where was I? And if I go and try to tell law enforcement I can’t tell them where I was. I can’t tell them anything. And at this point is the guy really who he said he was all this time?

I was like really, I was really in a bad space. I remember driving home and saying to myself ‘Thank God I am on birth control so I won’t be pregnant.’ Because I would not be able to look at that situation. And then I went the next day to a clinic and I had an STD test done and I so didn’t have chlamydia or anything.

I can’t tell you right now if he put on a condom or not. I just, once he made me lay down, I don’t know anything beyond that.

But I have never really shared this story. I turned 50 in May this year and I just remember feeling a little free and telling my mother one day. She and I were talking and I said, ‘Mom, I feel a little free.’ I said, ‘You know I was, I experienced date rape the summer of ’91.’ And she was like, ‘What? And you didn’t say anything?’ I was like ‘No, I was just, I think I was too embarrassed and too ashamed. And I didn’t know what to do with it. And I’ve lived with it for 27 years and now I’m finally telling you. And I feel good about it.’

And I didn’t go into any details with my Mom so she’ll hear it now I’m sure. But I never shared it with anybody. But I was moved to share it today because I was truly a victim. I didn’t want to have sex with him and I never became promiscuous. To teach me abstaining from sex would have done nothing for me in this situation. And her views, I don’t know that they go along with being a victim of rape. And I didn’t know that it was date rape. I didn’t learn there was a title to what I had experienced ’til later in life.

REPORTER: The reason you felt compelled to tell your story today is because you’re obviously against Erica Harold. And I would think, if you asked her, she would say ‘I’m opposed to date rape.’

LIGHTFORD: I just think it doesn’t tie in with the suggestions on how to go about it. And if you’re in a position as the attorney general I would think that there should be a little more thought processes in how to address a victim who has been sexually raped. And not come to the conclusion that they liked it. Or that they would become promiscuous. Or a whore as a result. It did the total opposite for me. I actually spent the next six years of my life having very little to no sex. Not trusting men at all. I just began to, I would only go on dates during my lunch, at work, or meet me at the LA Fitness to workout. Or Saturday matinees. Because I just was like so afraid to put myself in that position again. And I didn’t think that I was doing something wrong at that time. I had no idea that this guy was like this. I mean no one could have told me that.

REPORTER: I’m sorry I have to ask you this. And you kind of touched on it a little bit. You didn’t want to report it because you didn’t think people would believe you, or…?

LIGHTFORD: I just didn’t know where I was. I had no idea. I got in the car going. I couldn’t even lead police back there. I didn’t know where I was. Now that I am older and I’ve been all through Chicago I believe I had to be somewhere in the south suburbs. I don’t know that we drove as far as Indiana. But we had to exit off of 147th or Cicero or, I mean we were in one of the communities in that area. And it had to be a community that was experiencing some type of foreclosure or something happening because we were in an abandoned house. And they were selling drugs out of the house. I’m sure. Cause it was just a bunch of guys’ voices, and there were dogs. And I don’t know if they were dog fighting. I didn’t know what it was. But the pitbull was enough for me. But I didn’t report it because I just didn’t. I don’t know if I didn’t think that anybody would believe me. I think I didn’t believe that that had happened to me. I think I was still like ‘Why? Why would he do that to me? And what was that about?’ And I thought I was being a friend and if he wanted to go out on more dates I thought he was a nice guy. I mean maybe we could go out on dates and things. I didn’t think that he saw me as someone, you know, that he wanted to take me to a drug house for my graduation gift. And take advantage of me.

REPORTER: You were how old then?

LIGHTFORD: I had just turned 23.

REPORTER: 23.

LIGHTFORD: Yeah, and for her to say that at 22, it just touched me. I just listened to the story and it just hit me. I was like, I thought right then ‘I was 22′ and then I said ‘No, I had had my birthday. I graduated from Western. I had my birthday May 10th and graduated from Western all in that same week.’ And so it had to be a couple weeks after that when I went out with this guy. So it was either the end of May or early June of 1991.