For Christina Baker-Kline, the decision to write an open letter in support of the women accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct was not taken lightly.

The former Montclair resident joined two fellow Yale graduates, Kate Manning and Rebecca Steinitz, last week in circulating a letter from the "women of Yale" and asking Yale alumnae to sign on. As of Tuesday morning, it had nearly 2,000 signatures.

"We didn't know what the allegations were or who the women were. We just knew they were hesitant because they knew how difficult it would be and how invasive the process would be — which has been proven to be true," Baker-Kline said Tuesday. "We felt it was important that these women not feel that they were standing alone, to simply say, 'We support you.' "

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Their petition inspired the "men of Yale" to circulate their own petition, which now also has hundreds of signatures.

On Monday, students from Yale Law School, Kavanaugh’s alma mater, held protests at the school and in Washington as they demanded an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against the nominee.

Kavanaugh has vowed to fight what he calls "smears" and said in a Fox News interview Monday that he has "never assaulted anyone."

He is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday to defend himself against the allegation of sexual assault against him by Palo Alto University Professor Christine Blasey Ford.

Baker-Kline said, "A lot of women are very angry and are ready to have their voices heard. There’s a storm brewing that we all feel."

"We thought we'd get 200 signatures and we're close to 2,000, and it's been covered by many national news outlets, TV and radio," said Baker-Kline, whose best-selling novels include "Orphan Train" and "A Piece of the World." The longtime Montclair resident recently moved to Manhattan. "We've been flabbergasted at the response."

It's not Baker-Kline's first time making waves in the MeToo movement. Last year, she wrote an article in Slate magazine accusing former President George H.W. Bush of groping her in 2014 while he sat in his wheelchair and told a joke while a photo was taken of them for the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

Still, speaking out doesn't come naturally, she said.

"I'm a reluctant activist," she said. "I'm a novelist; I dwell in the gray areas. I spend my days trying to understand complicated human motivations."

"But when I find myself thrust forward, I can't stay quiet," she said.

Her story about Bush, she said, provides an answer to those who challenge sexual-assault accusers by saying, "Why didn’t they say something 30 years ago?"

“I never would have said a word publicly about that very small incident with George Bush, except that the two women who stepped forward before me were ridiculed and disbelieved.

"Exactly the same thing happened to me with the exact same joke," she said. "I couldn't stay silent, because I had information that would corroborate their stories.

"After I stepped forward, a dozen women stepped forward to tell their stories about George H.W. Bush."

The fact that the men in question are in extremely powerful positions also spurred her to go public.

"For me to speak out, it would have to be a president or a Supreme Court justice," she said. "That's a very high bar. And in both these cases they are exactly that.

"It's directly relevant to this person being in a position of power that will affect the lives of millions of people."

Now, she says, it's "up to others" to figure out whether the allegations have merit.

"It’s a very complex story," she says. "These stories are not black-and-white."