Lindsey Graham's Queer Predicament

"Lady G" with Trump.

Over the weekend I wrote about the latest round in the long running story about South Carolina's closeted U.S. Senator, Lindsey Graham - or "Lady G' or "Lady Graham" as the story has exploded across the twitter sphere.  In my post, I argued that the hypocrisy of closeted elected officials who support anti-gay policies and parties make them targets for "outing" and proper subjects of mainstream media investigation.  Sadly, many in the mainstream media are squeamish about the issue just as they use false equivalency as an excuse for not calling out politicians - think Donald Trump - for the liars that they are.  In a column Michelangelo Signorile makes the further argument that closeted politicians need to be outed because if they will lie about something so core as their sexual orientation, they will lie about many other things.  In Grahams case, I would argue that it also sets him up for blackmail by the crime boss in chief in the White House. Yes, Graham is terrified of the GOP base in his home state, but I suspect that he's even more afraid of whatever information Trump has on him. That fear makes him only too willing to sell out both his constituent and the nation.  Here are column highlights:

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.

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.

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.

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.

And yet, the discussion persists — as it did with Schock — and over the weekend, as reported by Towleroad, Twitter lit up with claims that an army of sex workers may be coming forward to speak out about Graham having hired them in the past, after gay adult film actor Sean Harding tweeted on Friday that it was time to reveal the truth about a “homophobic Republican Senator who is no better than Trump,” whom he referred to as “LG.” Harding claimed “every sex worker [he] know[s] has been hired by this man.”

“LadyG and “LadyGraham” — the alleged nicknames used by the sex workers — were soon trending, and tweets went viral that came from people claiming they had evidence, some of them claiming it was first hand. Harding, overwhelmed with inquiries, eventually set his Twitter feed to private, and on Sunday he tweeted:

Due to death threats against me and my family — and having my mom call me pleading to make it stop I will no longer be commenting on the LG story here. I know one individual has spoken to two prestigious media outlets with evidence but I'm not sure when that story will break.

It would be nice to think that mainstream media — or as Harding put it, “prestigious media outlets” — are finally getting it right, though I’ve learned not to hold my breath.

The closet, for powerful politicians, becomes a sort of practice run at the art of deception on a grander scale. And when you will sell out your own kind, there’s really no telling how low you will go.

Had journalists at mainstream outlets with vast resources, legal teams and researchers, been pursuing Schock for the hypocrisy of his anti-LGBTQ votes — and revealed that he was gay, with clear-cut evidence — it wouldn’t only have likely stopped an anti-gay hypocrite; it would likely have brought down a man who was spending campaign and taxpayer dollars to live in grand style and luxuriously travel around the world.

Back in 2006 when Mike Rogers, the founder of the site Blogactive — which exposed a slew of hypocritical, closeted gay politicians — revealed with detailed sources that Idaho GOP senator Larry Craig was gay, much of the mainstream media wouldn’t go near it.

They refused to follow up or track down the story further. It wasn’t until nine months later when “wide-stance” Craig was arrested for trying to have sex in an airport men’s room in Minneapolis that the mainstream media was all over it. Craig was then forced to resign, and the hypocrisy of the anti-LGBTQ Republican Party was on display.

But like Schock’s criminal activity, Craig’s arrest is the only thing that brought him down. If not for that action, involving criminal charges and thus a public record, he might still be in office, still railing against LGBTQ people. For much of the mainstream media, exposing a homophobe isn’t worth their time and effort — nor the resources of their newsrooms.

Even now, when the media is taking more seriously the issue of sexual harassment and tracking down stories of assault against women by powerful men, stories they once ignored but rightly now are focusing on — even when a story turns out to lose credibility — they still don’t see the story of the closeted hypocrite as one to investigate and report on.

Let me be clear: I’m not equating sexual harassment and assault with sexual orientation: I’m equating hypocrisy, deception and abuse of power that affects marginalized groups.

"The Bitchy Gay Community" Responds To The Aaron Schock Apologists

Its been amazing to see some "journalists" come to the defense of the seriously corrupt and unethical Aaron Schock and argue that gays are being "bitchy" and "mean" to Schock and suggesting that we have been brutal on him because we "want him."  A pretty face and toned body does not automatically make one an object of desire - ok, perhaps it does in the straight world wealthy older men all too often have brain dead "trophy wives" half their age - if there is no soul or moral substance behind the veneer.  A piece in Queerty has a great response to the Schock apologists that is down right fun to read.  Here are some highlights:

Kirchick, referring to those who’ve taken issue with Mr. Schock, his extravagant spending and antigay voting record, writes the “bitchy gay community” is up in arms because of “rumors” that Schock is a closeted gay man and that the real reason many people have disdain for the chiseled, Ken Doll-esque congressman is because we all “want him.”

Really? We all want him? That’s a little presumptuous, Mr. Kirchick. Was there a poll taken? I remember taking a poll for CrossFit and I definitely got the one for not eating carbs, but I must have clearly missed the “Who Wants To Shtook Schock” poll. 

Our disdain for Schock has nothing to do with his alleged good looks. It’s because of his character. Or lack of it, to be precise.     It seems in this day and age, you can’t dislike anyone for honest reasons, such as a person’s character.

Now as far as me not liking Aaron Schock because I want him — child, please. I will personally stand next to Schock in a Speedo and go muscle to muscle any day of the week (except Sunday — that’s my “cheat day”). In fact, he could have all the muscles in Chelsea and WeHo combined, but the thing Schock lacks and the thing that most resonates with the “bitchy queens” is the soon-to-be-former Congressman’s lack of ethics. 

Now dare I say, that is the reason we do not like her… I mean, him.

Kirchick writes that Schock has voted against gay marriage, against repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and against the institution of harsher criminal penalties for hate crimes. A mere two sentences later, Kirchick tries to say that, “There’s no evidence that Schock personally discriminated against gay people,” which makes one wonder if he has even read his own article. Call me crazy (I’ve been called worse), but voting against LGBT rights, is a form of discrimination.

 

These facts alone are enough, more than enough, actually, for the “bitchy gay community” to not like Aaron Schock.  But wait there’s more.. . . .  Schock also billed the Federal Government for logging approximately 170,000 miles on his personal car that, when sold, had an odometer reading of 80,000 miles. So “We The People” also paid for over 90,000 miles on Aaron Schock’s car that were never driven. 

 

Kirchick and others can try and spin this however they want. The truth is, the fall of Aaron Schock is because Aaron Schock has performed less like an United States Congressman than a privileged party boy who is all show and no substance. 

This card-carrying member of the “bitchy gay community” and many others like me are not supporters of Aaron Schock because he hasn’t earned it. It doesn’t matter where on the spectrum of sexuality he falls — though evidently, it’s somewhere between rabid Downton Abbey fan and Katy Perry backup dancer.

Very well said (the author's image is below, so we see why he'd do a speedo contest with Schock!)

GOP's Aaron Schock Resigns Congressional Seat

This blog has followed the misadventures of Aaron Schock, GOP Congressman from Illinois, and the stories of his lavish spending and whispers about his suspected homosexuality.  With each passing day, more questions have arisen about Schock's spending habits, questionable charges for reimbursement, and, of course, his cute, young male personal photographer.   Today, Schock announced that he is resigning his seat in Congress effective March 31, 2015.  Here are highlights from Politico:

Schock’s resignation, effective March 31, came so abruptly that the Illinois Republican didn’t even give Speaker John Boehner or his leadership team a heads up. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) had been planning to keep Schock on the GOP’s vote-counting team. Fellow congressmen from Illinois also had no idea.

Schock’s decision to quit – on the heels of questions from POLITICO about tens of thousands of dollars seemingly phony mileage reimbursements – represents the denouement of a boom-and-bust saga starring one of the Republican Party’s most promising young figures. The 33-year-old rocketed from the Peoria school board to Congress in less than a decade, amassing power, prestige and prominence on the national political scene. By the end of last year, he was eyeing a seat at the House GOP leadership table.

He jetted around the globe, with a professional photographer in tow to document his life for Instagram. He hired the wife of a donor to redecorate his office to look like PBS’s “Downton Abbey.” He booked private planes to take him back to Illinois and a donor’s helicopter in his district.  But Schock’s accounting of those activities was sloppy at best.

Records show that Schock personally claimed reimbursement for roughly 170,000 miles driven from January 2010 to July 2014. But the only vehicle he owned during that time was sold with just 80,000 miles on the odometer.  Asked for his response to those findings, Schock announced his resignation.

“[T]he constant questions over the last six weeks have proven a great distraction that has made it too difficult for me to serve the people of the 18th District with the high standards that they deserve and which I have set for myself,” he said in a statement. “I have always sought to do what’s best for my constituents and I thank them for the opportunity to serve.”

Schock was plainly struggling to deal with the media onslaught as his attorneys simultaneously reviewed his accounting. He canceled several fundraisers, and some of his Republican colleagues questioned whether he would be able to weather the growing scandal. His office stopped responding to several inquiries, including questions about a limited liability corporation he set up using his home address and the purchase of land from a donor.

With controversy swirling around him, two Republicans announced they would challenge him in a primary. That threat would have been unthinkable months earlier, since Schock was widely known for spreading campaign largesse to local pols.

GOP Closet Case Aaron Schock Facing Questions About His Expensive "Male companion"

Aaron Schock's boyfriend??

GOP Congressman Aaron Schock's troubles about his lavish lifestyle and extravagant travels just keep on growing.  now, it seems that Schock violated House of Representative rules when he took Jonathon Link - Schock's "photographer - to India to accompany the congressman on the trip, but failed to disclose Link's name appears anywhere on the travel disclosure form Schock filed afterwards. There has been much speculation that Schock is gay and now, some are questioning Link's real relationship with Schock.  Schock may be a jerk, but Link - -pictured above - does seem to have some some attractive attributes even if they have nothing to do with photography.  Here are highlights from CNN:

Another week, another report about a possible violation of House ethics rules by Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Illinois.

The congressman traveled to India last August 24-29 on a trip sponsored by the Global Poverty Project, an international anti-poverty group. The group also paid for Schock's Dallas-based photographer, Jonathon Link, to accompany the congressman on the trip, the group's spokesperson confirmed. But Link's name appears nowhere on the travel disclosure form Schock filed afterwards, as required by House rules.

The National Journal first reported about the disclosure oversight.

Schock's office paid Jonathon Link $4,166 for "communications" in September 2014 and listed him under "personnel" in its quarterly expense records, making him an official staffer. It is unclear if that payment was for the services rendered in India and Link did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Schock, a fourth-term congressman from a reliably Republican district, has been under scrutiny over his use of taxpayer and campaign money to pay for flights on private jets -- including planes owned by key donors -- concert tickets and other entertainment expenses. 

He's also under fire for lapses in reporting some of his expenses and already has taken steps to correct or amend some of those errors. He has hired a public relations team as well as a pair of lawyers, William McGinley and Donald McGahn, to review the compliance procedures in his official office, campaign and leadership PAC to decide whether they can be improved.

Global Poverty Project spent $4,000 to fly Link from Dallas to New Delhi and to lodge and feed him. According to the travel disclosure form Schock filed, the group spent $5,000 on his travel, $525 on his lodging, $300 on his meals and another $389 on travel insurance and ground transportation. Schock stayed at the Radisson Blu Plaza in New Delhi at a rate of $152.03 a night and at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai at a rate of $159 a night, according to the disclosure form.

One can only wonder what next week's revelation will be!  Meanwhile, some on the far right are beginning to call for Schock's resignation.

GOP Congressman Aaron Schock Hires Lawyers as Ethics Questions Grow

Republican Congressman Aaron Schock - who is widely thought to be a closeted gay - has growing problems as ethics concerns grow over Schock's billing private air travel and other perks to his congressional office and/or his campaign fund.  Now, Schock has hired hugely expensive Washington, D.C., legal counsel to defend him from the circling political and legal wolves.  I truly don't wish Schock ill, but if he's a closeted gay voting against gay rights, he will deserve going down in flames.  Politico looks at Schock's very costly move.  Here are highlights:

Rep. Aaron Schock has hired two prominent Washington defense attorneys and a public relations firm to respond to the swirling controversy and a potential ethics probe over how he has financed his lavish lifestyle.

The move by the embattled Illinois Republican comes amid continuing questions about his use of campaign and office accounts to pay for pricey travel and accommodations. His office has refused to respond to specific questions from POLITICO, including issues raised over the past week about a trip he took to London nearly four years ago as part of an annual event featuring Prince Charles.

Schock has hired William McGinley and Don McGahn of the Washington law firm Jones Day to lead his legal team. Veteran GOP communications operatives Ron Bonjean and Brian Walsh are helping manage his response, according to sources close to the matter.

Schock’s decision to hire outside help to manage the continuing fallout signals a new, more serious stage of the unfolding scandal. He has flown on private jets, stayed in five-star hotels and collected tens of thousands of dollars in mileage reimbursements from his campaign and the government. In addition, Schock used his campaign account last year to purchase a nearly $74,000 Chevy Tahoe that he uses while in the district.

POLITICO has repeatedly sought information regarding Schock’s trip in June 2011 to London. He stayed at Claridge’s, a five-star hotel where the least expensive rooms currently cost $500 per night. He also was scheduled to visit the city’s posh clothing stores and dined at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, according to the documents.

The trip, which included events organized by the nonprofit Prince of Wales Foundation, was not an official government trip and was not reported as a gift. Schock’s office would not say whether he paid for it. If he personally covered the cost of the trip, Schock would not be required to disclose it.

If it was a political excursion, Schock could have used campaign funds. However, the London itinerary does not appear to involve any congressional or political activities.

Scrutiny of Schock’s opulent and somewhat unusual spending has been mounting for weeks. It started when The Washington Post revealed that he had redecorated his Capitol Hill office to look like “Downton Abbey,” the PBS show about British aristocracy. Schock has publicly declared that he will cover the costs of that renovation.

On March 18, he left for a 10-day trip to Saudi Arabia, along with Republican Reps. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, that was paid for by Saudi Arabia’s antiquities and tourism commission. House members and employees may accept travel paid for by a foreign government without review by the ethics panel. But members must disclose such trips taken under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act on their annual financial disclosure forms.  Stutzman and Lummis listed the trip; Schock did not.

Aaron Schock's 'Flamboyant,' 'Racy,' 'Ripped Ab Muscles' 'Lifestyle'

Things haven't improved for presumed closet case GOP Congressman Aaron Schock who continues to battle ethics charges and questions about his extravagant spending and "lifestyle" choices such as having a young gay looking "personal photographer" who travels with him everywhere.  Michelangelo Signorile rightly increases Schock's headaches by again looking at Schock's presumed gayness in a piece in Huffington Post.  Note the part about Schock reportedly getting caught showering with another guy.  Here are fun highlights:

For several weeks now, GOP congressman Aaron Schock of Peoria, Illinois, has been at the center of a great deal of negative media attention because of things he has seemed to be -- or is alleged to be -- hiding. 

There's the revelation two weeks ago of his allegedly Downton Abbey-inspired office, which Schock's press secretary tried to keep a reporter from writing about. (The press secretary, days after coming under media scrutiny for his attempt to block the story, resigned after his racist Facebook posts were revealed.)

There's also the sale of Schock's home to a former Caterpillar executive and political supporter for a price well above the market. 

And there are his myriad of trips, some to far-off locales on chartered planes and including a paid personal photographer, which are raising question regarding who paid for them. 

All of this has inspired ethics complaints against Schock in addition to the negative media coverage. But the one thing reporters are not talking about openly -- yet appear to be wink-winking and nudge-nudging about -- is the question of Schock's sexual orientation. This is glaring and curious. 

The possibility that Schock is gay has been discussed openly, both on hundreds of blogs as well in the traditional media. That happened both when Schock, who has voted anti-gay, set off lots of gaydars online and on social media (like when he wore white pants, a magenta gingham shirt and a teal belt to the White House picnic, or when he posed shirtless for Mens' Health) and after former CBS reporter Itay Hod wrote on Facebook that a friend of his, a TV journalist, had told him he'd walked in on Schock and the TV journalist's roommate coming out of the shower together. 

Even the Washington Post, in an opinion piece by Jonathan Capehart, openly discussed Hod's Facebook post, using Schock's name. 

More interesting is how the media runs from this story, refusing to investigate it while looking into all other aspects of Schock's political life -- yet the possibility that he is gay is part of his political life. Just as he's denied wrongdoing with regard to who paid for his office makeover or his trips, Schock denied being gay when I asked him in 2012 in the context of his anti-gay votes. He did not do this by saying, "I'm not gay," but by saying the question was "ridiculous" and pointing to a denial from years past, saying, "I've said that before, and I don't think it's worthy of further response.

The question is relevant because if Schock is gay, then he is a hypocrite, since he voted against the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" and has said he was against gay marriage and for a federal marriage amendment. There are few more stellar examples of past possible deceptions that relate to the current stories about Schock.

But whether it's intentional, unconscious, or coincidental, the lack of any overt discussion (or investigation) of Schock's sexual orientation, while wink-wink words keep popping up, betrays a lot.  

As I discuss at length in my next book, the media and many LGBT activists themselves often breathlessly talk about polls that point to increased acceptance of homosexuality and LGBT rights, as if we've nearly won the war. But when the media still views the possibility that someone is gay as, at best, something that would be too damagingly invasive to report on or, at worst, a dirty little secret -- even when it's relevant or interesting to report on -- then we have surely got a long way to go.

GOP Rep. Aaron Schock Spending Tax Moneys On Hot Male Personal Photographer

Last week was not a good week for presumed to be gay GOP Congressman Aaron Schock.  Between the racists Facebook posts by his now former aide and ethics investigations concerning gifts and the questionable sale of his home to campaign contributors, the bad PR was nonstop.  This week is shaping up to be not much better.  Wonkette is having a field day about Schock's boy toy personal photographer - Jonathon Link (pictured above) - who seemingly travels with Schock everywhere.  Here are tongue in check highlights:

My goodness, America’s Top Heterosexual Congresscritter is in the news so much lately! We’ve gone from Not Gay Downton Abbey office to gayest ethics complaint ever to racist spokesgoon having to resign for being racist spokesgoon, all in the space of a week, and apparently Aaron is not done Shaking It Off, because here comes more!

Politico decided that it needed to win some mornings, so they did their own profile of the congressman from Illinois, focusing on the things he spends his taxpayer and campaign moneys on, and MOSTLY we don’t learn anything we didn’t already know from looking at Aaron’s Instagram account — he takes a lot of trips, likes being naked — but there is one scoop we find very interesting, and that scoop’s name is Jonathon with an ‘O’, and he is Aaron’s Personal Photographer:

To keep track of all his comings and goings, Schock has hired a personal photographer. Jonathon Link, a former Dallas-area wedding photographer, now snaps shots for Schock, and both his campaign and taxpayers pick up the bill.

You can tell Jonathon is his personal photographer, because personal photographers pose next to their bosses, in pictures. This is the man Aaron bought with tax moneys to travel all over the place with him. They make for a cute duo, of a Congressman and a Jonathon.

Aaron’s remaining, presumably non-racist spokesgoons say it’s totally normal to do this, because Aaron is the biggest fundraiser ever, and apparently having a Jonathon around helps him bring in the big bucks:

Schock aides defended employing a full-time photographer; “what is spent on photographers is in line with what is raised as a result.”

FULL TIME. To be fair, though, maybe his Jonathon is a Jack Of All Trades, always ready to lend a hand with whatever needs to be done, you know, at the office or on vacation in Argentina or wherever, because really, Aaron goes A LOT of places, all of them essential to the well-being of taxpayers in Peoria, Illinois

It is also very interesting that Jonathon is referred to by the Politico as a “former” wedding photographer. His website appears to be up and running, and when you load it, it doesn’t give you a “404 ran off with congressman LOL” error, but maybe he’s too busy taking pictures of Aaron to get on the computer these days.

We don’t know if Aaron also has to buy a separate hotel room for Jonathon every single time, but we’re guessing that, since Aaron is a fiscal conservative, probably not, that’s wasteful.

Oh, also, Aaron has another ethics complaint to contend with, concerning the sale of his Peoria home for $925,000, to a political donor. SOME SAY that the purchase price was FAR above market value, which, if true, would basically be like a big, illegal, unreported donation. . . . Maybe the donor and Aaron were taking shirtless selfies together and Aaron said, “I need to sell my house,” and the donor was like “I want it,” and it was just one of those right time, right place things. Or maybe it was FRAUD STUFF.

Time will tell on that ethics complaint, of course, but maybe that’s where he got the money to bring Jonathon Onto His Staff, haw haw, get it?

Wonkette is definitely maintaining the tradition started by founder, Ana Marie Cox!  Love it!

Presumed Closet Case, GOP's Aaron Schock Draws More Ethics Questions

Michelle Bachmann's lisping, limp wrist husband "Marcia" Bachmann represents one type of closeted gay.  GOP Congressman Aaron Schock represents the gym rat, style conscious type who wants to always be the center of attention.   Now, with his "Downton Abbey" office makeover gift and a questionable real estate transaction that sounds like something Bob and Maureen McDonnell might have engaged in, Schiock is getting more attention than he wanted.  The New York Times looks at his growing problems, including his now former aid who compared blacks to escaped zoo animals.  Here are highlights:

WASHINGTON — Aaron Schock was 27 years old, a fresh-faced and ambitious Republican from Peoria, Ill., when he joined Congress in January 2009. Today, Representative Schock has earned a reputation — not for legislating, but for his ripped ab muscles, shirtless poses, racy Instagram account and, now, a Capitol Hill office decorated like a drawing room from “Downton Abbey.”

But Mr. Schock’s troubles may go deeper than the blood-red color of his freshly painted office walls.

The congressman confessed Friday that he has “had better weeks.” Monday brought mocking revelations in the Style section of The Washington Post that a firm named Euro Trash had donated the office makeover — complete with a crystal chandelier, gilded mirrors and a spray of pheasant feathers. A government watchdog group promptly demanded an ethics inquiry. The congressman, now 33, said he would pay for the work.

On Thursday, Mr. Schock’s communications director, Benjamin Cole — at 38, the resident grown-up in the office — was forced to quit over racially charged Facebook posts comparing black people to escaped zoo animals engaging in “mating rituals.” 

By Friday, Mr. Schock was denying accusations that he had sold his home in 2012 to a political donor for more than its market value.

This is not the first time Mr. Schock has drawn unwanted attention. In May 2012, an independent congressional ethics board found “substantial reason to believe” Mr. Schock violated federal law in soliciting a $25,000 donation to a political action committee. The House Ethics Committee investigated but took no formal action.

The questions about Mr. Schock’s real estate transaction, first raised by the liberal-leaning website Blue Nation Review, involve the 2012 sale of his home in Dunlap, Ill., to a company linked to a contributor, Gloria L. Bahaj, whose husband, Ali, is a former executive at Peoria-based Caterpillar, the construction equipment giant.

According to Peoria County Assessor records, Mr. Schock sold the property for $925,000; the real-estate website Zillow estimated at the time of the sale that the property was worth $819,000. Mr. Schock told reporters in Peoria on Friday that he had built the home on speculation before coming to Congress, that the transaction was handled by a real estate agent, that he had never spoken to the buyer and that the sale price was “right in line” with comparable homes in the neighborhood.

Since 2008, campaign finance records show, Ali and Gloria Bahaj and Caterpillar have donated a combined total of at least $191,035 to Mr. Schock and his political action committee, the GOP Generation Y Fund.

Schock's new office look

Why Do Some Gays Defend Their Oppressors?

The debate continues to rage over Itay Hod's quasi outing of GOP Congressman Aaron Schock (pictured at right).  Joining the prissy sanctimonious set who, were they Jewish in the 1930's would have a defending Hitler's right to privacy, is Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post.   The standard bullshit one hears from these folks runs more or less like this per Caprhart:

There is no timetable to coming out. There is no “right time” or “perfect time.” It is an intensely personal journey that involves stages of self-discovery and self-acceptance before one is ready to share his or her truth with friends, family, colleagues and, in this case, constituents.

News bulletin to Capehart - who lives in the gay friendly District of Columbia - being barred from marrying in my own state of Virginia, having no employment or public accommodation protections is also intensely personal.  Multiply that times the thousands and thousands of gays nationwide and the equity comes down on the side of outing people like Schock.  If Schock wants the privacy of deciding when to come out, then he needs to (i) not hold public office and/or (ii) stop backing anti-gay legislation.  You don't get to deprive others their civil rights and then get to have your victims give deference to your personal sensibilities.  

For those who forget chock's voting record, Capehart provides this summary:

Schock has consistently gone against measures supported by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. He has supported an amendment to the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. He opposed President Obama’s 2011 decision to not defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) against court challenge. Schock voted against the 2010 repeal of the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces. And he voted against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Schock’s voting record is so anti-gay that he earned a zero percent rating from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT rights organization.

 The LGBT community will never have full equality as long as some of us  continue to protect our self-loathing, closeted enemies.

Outing Rep. Aaron Schock Is Completely Acceptable

CBS journalist Itay Hod ignited a bit of a fire storm when he more or less outed Republican Congressman Aaron Schock in a lengthy Facebook post over the weekend.  The usual suspects in the gay blogosphere have whined that outing closeted anti-gay politicians is improper and defended Schock's right to "come out in his own time."   Meanwhile, of course, Schock has been busy voting against the civil rights of other gays and aiding and abetting anti-gay groups.  I'm sorry, but what Schock has been doing is what ids unacceptable and improper.  Outing him was not only proper but a good thing.  Every single closeted elected official who supports an anti-gay legislative agenda while enjoying gay sex in secret needs to be outed.  The media needs to stop giving cover to hypocrites like Schock.  A column at Huffington Post makes the argument as to why "outing" is acceptable.  Here are highlights:

Over the weekend, CBS journalist Itay Hod decided he'd had enough of closeted politicians. In a long Facebook post, Hod ranted that the media has been muzzled from outing anyone for fear of repercussions from gay-rights organizations like GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign. He waxed on about an "Illinois congressman" with a virulently anti-gay voting history and claimed this congressman was caught in the shower with his male partner by a fellow journalist.

In case we weren't sure who Hod was discussing, he linked to an article about Rep. Aaron Schock's gayest Instagram photos.

The case of closeted Republican gays has long been a source of consternation among the LGBT community. General consensus still relies on the idea that "outing" is a morally problematic thing to do because, in the past, publicly declaring someone's sexual orientation could put them at risk for violence and harassment.

In the situation of someone like Aaron Schock, this consideration is rendered inconsequential. It wouldn't matter if outing Schock put him at risk of physical violence because he is a man who has made a career out of harming minority individuals. All of his votes are now very easily accessible by category thanks to Project Vote Smart.

Schock voted against the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act on April 29, 2009. This act was to ammend federal hate crime laws to include LGBT individuals. So if someone assaulted Schock for allegedly showering with another man in his hotel, he believes that assault shouldn't be counted as a "hate crime" in the way being assaulted for skin color should.

He then voted against the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell in 2010. The repeal has been so widely accepted by now, many forget that it was only a short time ago that LGBT individuals could lose their jobs in the military if it became known that they so much as harbored fond feelings for the same gender.

Despite his efforts to prevent the Employment Descrimination Law Amendments from passing, the bill passed on January 9, 2009. As recently as July 19, 2012, Schock helped pass an amendment to prevent funding to actions that would controvene the Defense of Marriage Act, which was ultimately struck down by the conservative-leaning United States Supreme Court.

Aaron Schock is not merely someone disaligned with the LGBT community, he is an active opponent earning a 0 percent approval rating from the HRC.

Outing folks like Representative Aaron Schock isn't just not-wrong. It's an ethical responsibility of journalists to expose blatant hypocrisy from our politicians. Itay Hod claims that his friend's network, which he chooses not to name, ran a video of Aaron Schock talking about his heterosexuality after already being informed that he was lying.

Kudos to Hod for being brave enough to violate one of journalism's most sacred unwritten rules: One must lean toward equality in coverage, but never to the point of offending the personal sensibilities of the rich and powerful by exposing their hypocrisy on the issue.

I agree.  Kudos to Itay Hod.