During the usually un-newsworthy period between Christmas and New Year, Saturday Night Live star turned big-shot Democrat, Al Franken, gave his first public speech since announcing his resignation as a Senator for Minnesota in the wake of sexual harassment claims. For many, Franken’s departure represented a turning point in the left’s approach to sexual harassment in its own ranks. But his speech elicited a wave of mourning among Democrats, as well as in-fighting just months before the midterm elections. At best, negative reactions to Franken’s resignation have been hypocritical. At worst, they have demonstrated an unchecked misogyny which still punctuates the left’s political calculations.

The politicisation of sexual harassment claims has been blatant. Defenders of Franken cite his votes on women’s issues in arguing against his resignation. Why is it fair that Donald Trump, a known misogynist and alleged abuser, sits in the Oval Office, while a man whom the left deem ideologically sound should exit the political arena? Surely, women are served well by Franken, who votes consistently in favour of reproductive rights? Perhaps here, people forget that public service is not a right, but a privilege. Yet Franken’s resignation, for many, was simply bad politicking. Indeed, a Public Policy Polling Survey conducted last month found that Republicans supported Franken’s resignation 71-19, while Democrats opposed it 71-22.

“The truth is that sexual assault is not a partisan issue. Progressives can be abusers. Conservatives can be abusers.”

True, Franken’s legislative record is undeniably pro-women. His votes have served to advance women’s rights to a greater degree than many Republican Senators. This, however, does not excuse his engagement in a culture of unchecked sexism which has been increasingly brought to light in recent months. I am reminded of a scene from The West Wing. “It’s bad politics, but for good reasons,” says CJ. “But good men with good reasons shouldn’t set precedents for bad men with bad ones,” Toby replies. When people frame responses to sexual harassment in terms of political strategy, they remove focus from justice, and worse, from the victims.

The degree to which the situation has been politicised is most clearly demonstrated in the treatment of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who initiated calls among Democrats for Franken’s resignation. It is here that one finds tinctures of hypocrisy, and, arguably, of sexism. The same people who called for Roy Moore’s deselection as Republican candidate in the Alabama Senatorial election in light of allegations of sexual assault and child abuse, which he denied, too argue that Gillibrand disregarded due process in calling for Franken’s resignation. Gillibrand was deemed “the most devious and cunning politician in America today” by CNN’s Matt Lewis. She has been accused of leading a witch hunt, called disloyal, an opportunist, and much worse in comments on her social media, a virtual space in which outspoken female politicians are all too often subject to sexist abuse.

The trend persists. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi appeared hypocritical in her approach to sexual harassment claims against Representative John Conyers, praising women for saying ‘zero-tolerance’ to harassment, yet shying away from condemning Conyers’s behaviour. In the British Labour Party, young activist Bex Bailey claimed she was raped by someone within the party and told not to pursue the matter, while the same party frames the Conservatives as an old boys’ club amid numerous resignations and harassment claims made against their MPs. Similarly, the left has not shied from discussing President Trump’s misogyny. The problem lies in the fact that Democratic President Bill Clinton, with numerous claims of assault against him, is not treated in the same way. In fact, Gillibrand faced a wave of abuse when she recently suggested that Clinton should have resigned 20 years ago in the face of these accusations.

When people who are otherwise good on the issue of sexual harassment shy away from discussing its occurrence within their own party, they contribute to a culture in which questions of justice and decency become political pawns, played by either side for the prize of the moral high-ground. The left has been on the right side of history when it comes to women’s rights, this is true. But this does not automatically afford them the moral high-ground on women’s issues that they so often take for granted. The truth is that sexual assault is not a partisan issue. Progressives can be abusers. Conservatives can be abusers. The left must remain vigilant and check misogyny and abuses of power in its own ranks. Not just for its own integrity, but for the victims, for the future, and for justice