Why the South Carolina senator’s sexual orientation is a story for journalists, Twitter lights up with #LadyG
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Let’s begin with Aaron Schock, while I have your attention.
First elected in 2008, he’s the disgraced, former Republican congressman from Illinois who stood against LGBTQ rights — including voting against “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal, and coming out against marriage equality — though it was an open secret in Washington and in queer circles that he was gay throughout that entire time. There was discussion that he was gay even before the White House picnic in 2010 and the photo of him in white pants, teal belt and pink gingham shirt that went viral, but he’d denied it in 2004 in an interview.
The youngest person elected to Congress when he took office in 2009, Schock was allowed to present himself in the media as a bachelor whose college friends had all married while he was too busy in politics — but who would presumably marry when the right woman came along.
And yet, the open secret persisted. Schock denied he was gay again when I asked him on the floor of the Republican National Convention in Tampa in 2012 for a response to those who believe he is gay and that he had voted against his own people.
“Those questions are completely ridiculous and inappropriate,” he said, becoming tense. When I asked if he was thus confirming that he was not gay, he replied, “I’ve said that before and I don’t think it’s worthy of further response. I think you can look it up.” Then he stormed off.
Schock resigned in 2015 after a report about his Downton Abbey-inspired office set off a chain of investigations about his lavish lifestyle using taxpayer dollars and campaign funds. He was eventually indicted on 24 counts ( though, with a good lawyer, he struck an outrageous sweetheart deal in which all charges were dropped if he paid back the IRS and his campaign).
Then, this past March, Schock finally came out as gay, after living it up as a private citizen for some time, visiting gay vacation destinations and party spots, enjoying the very liberation that he worked with our enemies to try to destroy.
Twitter lights up with #LadyG
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, too, has been discussed as gay for years, with those on both the left and the right hinting at it or saying it outright. He, too, has denied he is gay, most recently in 2018. (To be fair, some of the attacks on Graham that have relied upon gay innuendo — from both the left and the right — have been homophobic, and I’ve defended against that myself.)
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