Indian-American Amita Swadhin Warns Senate Panel of Jeff Sessions Appointment

WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — Amita Swadhin, an Indian-American woman who is lesbian and was sexually abused as a child, warned a Senate panel Wednesday that confirming Sen. Jeff Sessions as the country’s next Attorney General would threaten the safety of the LGBT community and rape victims.

“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,” she said.

Swadhim recounted how her father sexually assaulted her regularly as a child between the ages of four and 12. She was called to testify by Senate Democrats of the Judiciary Committee on the second day of Sessions’ nomination hearings.

“I endured psychological, physical, and verbal abuse from him for years,” she told the committee. “I also grew up watching my father abuse my mother in a textbook case of domestic violence and marital rape.”

Swadhim’s testimony further sharpened the point of attacks that have been used on Sessions’ appointment, a former U.S. attorney and Alabama attorney general who Washington Democrats have labeled as racist, anti-Muslim and homophobic. During her testimony, Swadhim said Sessions should be disqualified from consideration.

“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,” she said. “For most survivors of violent crime, this means trusting the state more than you fear the family member, friend or community member who you trusted and who raped or abused you.”

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy and Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, both Democrats, were the only two to ask Swadhim questions after her testimony.