I don’t care about someone’s political viewpoints when it comes to sexual harassment and sexual assault. This is a serious thing and people who harm others need to be punished regardless of whether or not they are liberal or conservative. However, part of the justice system is that a person is innocent until proven guilty. There is a reason for this. It is to prevent innocent people from being locked up. Unfortunately there are many people of color for whom this has not applied, including the black men who used to get lynched merely because of an accusation of rape. When someone is accused of sexual harassment or assault he or she is supposed to be allowed a defense. The accusations have to be proven. If the accusations cannot be proven, the person is determined to be not guilty.

The problem with Anita Hill’s testimony is that there were a lot of inconsistencies. Several potential witnesses that might have been called to testify on her behalf would actually have hurt her case, which is why her attorney didn’t call them. Not one co-worker was called to testify on Hill’s behalf. However, twelve former female colleagues of Clarence Thomas testified strongly in support of him, talking about his “scrupulous” treatment of women. Several of these women were friends of Anita Hill, and several had experienced sexual harassment at other jobs. The four witnesses that WERE called on behalf of Hill provided weak testimony with contradictions, etc.

Also, after the alleged sexual harassment of Hill by Thomas, Hill followed Thomas to another job. She called him many times after she stopped working for him and met him at least once at a mutual friend’s house for breakfast. She also remains the only woman to accuse Thomas of harassment. Powerful men with a history of sexual harassment don’t stop at just one — Harvey Weinstein, Donald Trump, Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton — on both the left and the right there are many examples, and they all have multiple accusers.

Interestingly, Anita Hill publicly defended Bill Clinton against several sexual harassment charges. What about the rights of those women to be heard? There seems to be a double standard. Several women have accused Bill Clinton of taking sexual liberties but no one seems to care, meanwhile, just one woman accused Clarence Thomas and despite lots of flaws in her testimony, people assume Thomas must be guilty.

I realize that because of his political viewpoints Clarence Thomas is not popular but when it comes to proof of guilt or innocence, it’s not about popularity or political viewpoints. It has to be based on actual evidence. Either that, or if you are a woman who has the misfortune of being sexually harassed, make sure it’s by a conservative so people will take you seriously…