Lindsey Graham Has Passed Away. Do LGBTQ People Have a Right to Celebrate His Death?
Spencer Macnaughton | Uncloseted Media Weekly Newsletter
On Sunday, the office of Lindsey Graham reported that the Republican senator and Trump ally from South Carolina died “from a brief and sudden illness.” The office said that the preliminary cause of death was a rupture of his aorta due to a hardening of his arteries.
Since then, many folks in the LGBTQ community, including a large number of Uncloseted followers, have—for better or worse—celebrated the senator’s death. When we posted the news on our Instagram page on Sunday, our followers commented:
“Maybe he rest in hell”—this one got 194 likes.
“She made sure to wait until Pride was over.”
“And just like that the world is a better place.”
These responses are fueled by allegations that the senator lived as a closeted gay man while supporting policies that would roll back LGBTQ rights. In 2006, he voted in support of a constitutional amendment that would have restricted marriage to only being between one man and one woman. After gay marriage became legal across the U.S. in 2015, he said “I am a proud defender of traditional marriage.” And in 2022, he told CNN he would oppose the Respect for Marriage Act and later reiterated that states should decide the issue of marriage.
Outside the Washington, D.C. rumor mill, there wasn’t much evidence that Graham could be gay until 2020, when adult video performer Sean Harding wrote on Twitter that “There is a homophobic republican senator who is no better than Trump who keeps passing legislation that is damaging to the lgbt and minority communities. Every sex worker I know has been hired by this man. Wondering if enough of us spoke out if that could get him out of office?”
Harding followed up with another post, writing “If you’d be willing to stand with me against LG please let me know,” and, “So far I have two individuals who would be willing to go public and support my claims. Anyone else?”
A few days later, another anonymous sex worker came forward and made similar allegations.
But after that, there was silence, with some believing these sex workers were slapped with non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). And while at least one lawyer took to Twitter saying that he’d “be more than happy to read the NDAs and look for loopholes. For free!” nobody else came forward.
That is until earlier this week, when author Jesse James Rose posted to her Instagram that Graham had paid her for sex work prior to her gender transition. Rose wrote that “Most of you know him as the homophobic senator from South Carolina but to me he will always be the man who paid a twinky pre-transition college student a fat stack of cash to do unspeakable things to him in a hotel room while he wore red lingerie.”
This dynamic has created a complicated question for LGBTQ people: Is it appropriate to posthumously celebrate the death of a man who railed against our community and used his position of power to make our lives less equitable and less safe? Is it even more fair to criticize him if he was living a secret queer life?
Or should we go high and give his track record on LGBTQ issues a positive spin now that he’s no longer with us?
In a time where social media feels like a breeding ground for angertainment, I’ll admit that the immediacy of the response to his death at first felt intense.
At the same time, I knew I didn’t want to send thoughts or prayers to a man who tried to rip my rights away.
If the alleged NDAs that Graham handed his sex workers were legitimate, they likely evaporated after his death. So now really may be the first time people can speak their truth and offer an accurate window into the absurd hypocrisy between Graham’s public and private life.
For that, I think it’s fair game to speak candidly about the story he may have worked hard to muzzle while he was here.
I had a great time at the NYC Substack Bestsellers party on Tuesday evening. It was great to meet so many amazing and interesting Substackers!
After 30,000 public comments were submitted, the Department of Health and Human Services this week abandoned a proposed rule that would have denied Medicare and Medicaid funding to hospitals which provide gender-affirming care for minors following. One of the comments, from Advocates for Trans Equality, cited our article on Alex Byrne, an anti-trans philosopher who was one of the authors of the Department’s report on pediatric gender dysphoria.
Trump administration caves to public pressure after avalanche of opposition to anti-trans hospital rule (The Advocate)
More than 30,000 public comments helped derail an HHS proposal that threatened funding for hospitals providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth.
Rose alleged, with a hand-raising emoji, that Graham paid a “twinky pre-transition college student a fat stack of cash” for a meetup.
West Hollywood’s Lowering of Flags for Lindsey Graham Sparks Backlash from LGBTQ+ Community (WeHo Times)
Mexico’s first out gay mayor shot & killed while getting ice cream in Guadalajara (LGBTQ Nation)
The former mayor was also reportedly under investigation for alleged fraud, though his family members believe the accusations were a political hit job.
Over the next week, be on the lookout for new Uncloseted reporting:
🆕 SATURDAY: On the next episode of “UNCLOSETED, with Spencer Macnaughton,” I interview Doug Wilson, the lead pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho and an increasingly prominent figure in conservative Christianity. Wilson, who believes gay sex should be illegal and married women shouldn’t vote, says he has 10-20 followers working in the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
🆕 TUESDAY: For one week, trans kids can stop explaining themselves and simply be kids. Inside Transcending Adolescence, campers find community, confidence and something many have struggled to imagine: a future where they can thrive. This piece by Sam Donndelinger takes a deep dive into the camp and how it helps support trans youth across the U.S.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to email me with questions, complaints and story ideas!
Spencer Macnaughton, Editor-In-Chief — spencer@unclosetedmedia.com
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Now, why would gay people lose their right to criticize other gay people? I criticize straight white people when I feel it necessary.