Bisexual Sexual Assault Survivor Amita Swadhin Tesified Against Jeff Sessions

Bisexual sexual assault survivor and advocate Amita Swadhin testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to urge committee members not to confirm Jeff Sessions as attorney general.

Bisexual sexual assault survivor and LGBTQ equality advocate Amita Swadhin on Wednesday testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee to urge its members not to confirm Jeff Sessions as attorney general. Jeff Sessions is currently a Republican Senator for the state of Alabama and Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general. In her testimony, Swadhin confirms that Sessions would pose an insidious threat to LGBTQ people, immigrants and survivors of sexual assault if the committee approves him for the position.

“As a bisexual woman with a transgender romantic partner, and as an advocate working to support sexual assault survivors in the LGBT community, the prospect of Senator Sessions as attorney general is personally and professionally alarming.”

Swadhin believes that the American public deserves an attorney general who is “committed to improving and enforcing our laws to ensure the most vulnerable victims of crime can come forward to seek accountability and to access healing. Time and again, Senator Sessions’ voting record has shown us he is not the man for the job,” she said. Sessions initially support the Violence Against Women Act. However, when the act was amended in 2013 to include protections for LGBTQ people, immigrants and tribal populations, Sessions voted against it. Swadhim affirmed her belief that society, especially the nation’s attorney general, should, in fact, be most concerned with the communities this expansion would have protected. “We must trust the attorney general to respect the humanity of all Americans and especially to be committed to seeking justice for our most vulnerable victims of crime,” she continued.

In her call to the committee to reject Sessions as attorney general, Swadhin passionately stated, “We need a justice department that can be a partner to families and communities. Our attorney general must be able to demonstrate leadership to victims of violent crime that helps us feel we can trust the state, the courts, and victim service agencies more than we fear our perpetrators.”

Part of the U.S. attorney general’s duties include potentially seeking justice for some of the most vulnerable cases, and the person serving in that position should demonstrate fierce advocacy for those whose voices have been suppressed by violence, hate crimes and oppression. Swadhin vehemently believes Sessions is not up for the task and hopes the Senate Judiciary Committee sees that. 


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