Amid allegations of sexual assault,
LGBT groups are calling for an end to the confirmation of Supreme
Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
In an interview published Sunday in The
Washington Post, Christine Blasey Ford, a 51-year-old research
psychologist in California, said that she was the previously
anonymous woman who had accused Kavanaugh of attempted sexual assault
when he was a student at Georgetown Preparatory School.
Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the
allegations.
“I categorically and unequivocally
deny this allegation,” Kavanaugh said. “I did not do this back
in high school or at any time.”
Ford said that the assault took place
in the early 1980s at a party. She said that Kavanaugh tried to pin
her down and remove her clothes. When she screamed, he put his hand
over her mouth. She said that she was able to break free when Mark
Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh's at the time, jumped on top of them.
She fled to the bathroom, then left the party.
Ford said that she recounted the
incident for the first time while in couple's therapy with her
husband in 2012.
During his Senate confirmation hearing,
Kavanaugh refused
to answer questions related to marriage equality and whether
it's okay to fire LGBT workers. The Senate Judiciary Committee
was set to vote on Kavanaugh's nomination on Thursday.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), called on the Senate to halt the proceedings.
“Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination
process has been anything but transparent, and now with this grave
charge of sexual assault, this process must be halted immediately,”
Griffin said. “Moving forward with this confirmation process
without conducting a thorough investigation would be deeply troubling
and offensive to the American people, but more importantly to
survivors of sex crimes across the country. It would communicate
their trauma isn’t worthy of justice if a person sitting on the
nation’s highest court can be confirmed without being investigated
for alleged sexual violence.”
Rick Zbur, executive director of
Equality California, said that the charges alone were enough to
disqualify Kavanaugh.
“These charges are serious and
disqualifying,” Zbur said. “They would be for any person in any
circumstance, and are particularly so for someone nominated to serve
on the nation’s highest court. Ms. Ford should never have had to
come forward, but now that she has chosen to share her story, it is
critical that law enforcement be given adequate time to thoroughly
investigate Judge Kavanaugh’s conduct. The stakes are too high for
his nomination to proceed, and the White House should withdraw it
immediately.”