While he was still a Congressman in Illinois, Republican Aaron Schock made a name for himself as an anti-gay legislator by opposing such things as the Matthew Shephard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the 2010 repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” He also criticized President Barack Obama for not defending the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman.
But then, as fate would have it, Schock fell from grace and was forced to resign after allegedly fleecing constituents and campaign donors in 2016, Politico reports. He was subsequently indicted on 24 felony counts that alleged he defrauded taxpayers and campaign donors via false expense claims that included doing things like inflating mileage reimbursements, personal travel expenses and buy pricey camera gear. And for using campaign funds to buy Super Bowl tickets.
Oh, and did I mention that he also used taxpayer funds to make his office look like “Downtown Abbey?” The Daily Mail reports.
And LGBTQ Nation reports Schock has had more than a few chances to leave the closet. His D.C. apartment is flocked by young men, and CBS journalist Itay Hod provided circumstantial evidence by inadvertently walking in on Schock and his male roommate showering together, thus “outing” him in 2014.
Then last Saturday, the former congressman was filmed slipping cash into a well-muscled male dancer at Boy Bar, a gay establishment in Mexico City’s Red Light District.
“The last person I would expect to see in Boy Bar is a former Republican Congressman,” the unnamed patron who filmed the incident told The Daily Mail. “I was taking a video of the go-go dancer on stage and all of a sudden I saw him. He looked like he was enjoying himself.”
And Schock now lives in West Hollywood, where he’s been spotted going to gay bars.
His seeming hypocrisy is not really anything new for anti-gay Republicans. As this story from NewNowNext points out, like Schock, they have been getting caught with their hands in the LGBTQ cookie jar for decades.
Featured image courtesy of the video above
