Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan spoke to a crowd of more than 50 people July 25 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Ballard.

Sheehan drew notoriety for staging a sit-in outside of George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, after her son was killed in the Iraq war.

Naomi James was in the audience at Trinity United. She said she was excited to see Sheehan speak because Sheehan was a major force standing up against what was happening in Iraq.

"It took so much courage to stand up and speak out," James said. "She's just a brave person."

Rev. Rich Lang, in introducing Sheehan, compared her to Martin Luther King Jr. and Caesar Chavez. He said Sheehan, almost alone, stood up and unmasked the deception of the government.

"She stood outside of the emperor's sanctuary and asked to speak to the king," Lang said.

Sheehan started out the evening speaking about her history, before moving into a question and answer session and book signing.

She said the media gave her a lot of coverage outside of Crawford when she waited to ask the former president what noble cause there was for the Iraq War.

"I was that summer's Michael Jackson," she said.

She said that the media turned on her and tried to attack her personal life when she gained more support and then ignored her when she ran a losing campaign against California State Representative Nancy Pelosi.

Sheehan asked the audience to hiss and boo whenever she mentioned Pelosi, which they willingly did.

Sheehan is touring in support of her new book, "Myth America."