We get it, you are tough and dealt with the sexual harassment on your own. And paid the price. And many women had done that before. And we always pay the price for not putting up with it. The men who harash don't, so they keep doing it. And some women aren't tough, so they end putting up with it.

That is why we might need to change the strategy to deal with this. Maybe it is time that men pay some price for harashing. Maybe then, some men would stop. Sure, making them pay might mean paying a price too. In this case, losing men like Coumo. So what? It is no worse than being fired for answering back, right?

This is not a matter of forgetting what he have done, on the contrary. It is a matter of values. For you, his COVID answer is worth more than stopping harassment. OK

But for others, he has to pay a price for his abuse so no one has to pay the price for having to stand up to abusive bosses. If he really cares about the other fights he was in, he would pass the mantle.

What they are doing asking for his head is as logical as what you are doing defending him. They just value more trying to stop harassment. They would lose him to stop harassment in the same way you were willing to lose a job to not sleep with the boss. It is rational when you have a slightly different set of priorities. Abuse effects might not be as visible as COVID's, but they are serious regardless and pervasive in the long term. So what is worse? I don't have an answer but I can understand that some people is more worried about abuse.

Coumo is not the "perfect person that NY needed". Not for them anyway. You are asking them to settle for the "lesser evil" out of pragmatism. Be prepared for some of them to say "No, I want someone who is actually good". If he really is the person NY needs now, maybe he should step aside and let someone who can continue his fight against COVID but not abuse staff take his place. It is not one or the other. Who knows, maybe one of the woman who had to request transfer (which we all know is paying a price because your career would be derailed while his won't) is the real "perfect person that NY needed" and we don't know, because HE derailed her career.

Let him pay the price for his actions so everyone get the message that harassment is no longer consequence free for the harasser. As simple as that.