On This Date In ISBL History: Would It Be So Schocking?

As Carlos and I are in sunny Miami for business and pleasure, I thought I’d do something I’ll call “On This Date In ISBL History” and repost some things from back when the blog was new, and newish … this was originally published January 7, 2014:

Would It Be So Schocking?

Y’all know Aaron Schock, right? The Illinois Congressman with the flashy wardrobe? I mean, come on, who pairs a turquoise belt with white pants and red gingham shirt unless they have a savvy sense of fashion? Well, maybe a gay man because we all know that The Gays are very fashion forward.

So when that picture came out the internet was flooded with the stories and theories and gossip that Schock was gay; shocking because he’s also a Republican and they are not known for being all that gay-friendly. But soon the idea that Schock was a Friend of Dorothy’s settled down, but then he appeared shirtless on magazine covers and in photographs and the rumors started again.

Then last week, amidst new rumors that he is gay, Aaron Schock closed his Instagram account — which he has used to post so-not-gay photos of himself — to the public after journalist Itay Hod posted his thoughts about a Gay Aaron Schock on Facebook:

here's a hypothetical: what if you know a certain GOP congressman, let's just say from Illinois, is gay... and you know this because one of your friends, a journalist for a reputable network, told you in no uncertain terms that he caught that GOP congressman and his male roommate in the shower... together. now they could have been good friends just trying to conserve water. but there's more. what if this congressman has also been caught by tmz cameras trolling gay bars. now what if you know that this very same guy, the darling of the gop, has also voted against repeal of don’t ask don’t tell, opposed the repeal of doma, is against gay marriage; and for the federal marriage amendment, which would add language to the us constitution banning gay marriage and would likely strike down every gay rights law and ordinance in the country?

Are we still not allowed to out him? 

let me ask another question... doesn't the media have an OBLIGATION to expose his hypocrisy? if he had done something so hypocritical and he wasn't gay, wouldn't we demand journalists do their job? but they can't... because we won't let them. you're not allowed to out ANYONE, we tell them. 

we've created a situation where even though news organizations know this guy is gay, they can't report it because he hasn't said so on twitter. 

if we keep saying that being gay is genetic; ergo, it's no different than having blue eyes or blonde hair... than why are not allowed to mention it? why do we need anyone's consent to talk about their sexuality? are we not allowed to say someone has blue eyes until they post a fb message telling us they are in fact blue?

So, someone, someone, caught Aaron and a buddy showering together, but that someone isn't speaking directly. And someone, someone, says Schock trolls gay bars but I don't see those pictures on the web. And, really, does going to a gay bar make you gay? I have straight friends who go to gay bars because The Gays always have the best music.

And where is the arrest for Aaron Schock? You know, like Larry Craig, of the bathroom stall wide stance, foot tapping , under the stall low-fiving? Where is that? So far, all we have is someone telling someone and someone putting it on Facebook. Again, that doesn't make you gay.

Aaron Schock vehemently denies he’s gay, and, well, his actions seem to suggest that he is, in fact, very straight, very anti-LGBT, or else a deeply shamed closeted self-loathing homosexual. But we don’t know which because no one is coming forward to say they’ve had a sexual relationship with Aaron and Aaron ain’t talking.

Unless he’s spouting off about his disapproval for marriage equality; in fact, Schock supports a federal amendment banding same-sex marriages; he also opposed the repeal of DADT; opposes the repeal of DOMA and voted against adding sexual orientation to federal hate crimes statutes. If Aaron Schock is gay, he certainly has made it clear that he hates us and himself.

So, is he or isn’t he? Well, my response is the same response I have used at my job; being the only openly gay male at work, I am always asked, by the Heterosexual Contingent, if a certain male employee or client is gay because of my natural GayDar. I generally reply that I don’t know because, well, my GayDar isn’t the best and also because, as I say to my co-workers — and excuse my language — “I haven’t f**ked him yet.”

See, that’s how we’d know. A gay man has sex with men, or is at the very least sexually attracted to men. And a turquoise belt, while certainly flamboyant and a daring fashion choice, doesn’t make a man gay. Neither does having a hot body that you like to show off, though most gay men do like to show themselves off while they’re looking good.

And having someone say someone’s gay on Facebook doesn’t make you gay; having Mike Rogers, who loves to out gay politicians, say “Anybody who knows Aaron Schock, anybody who has half of a brain cell, knows he's gay” doesn’t make him gay.

Aaron Schock will be gay when, or if, he comes out as a gay man. And who knows, he might; he might become the GOP Gay Poster Boy, marching in parades in rainbow leather chaps and no shirt. He might fall in love with the boy next door and hope to marry him one day. Who knows?

None of us knows until Aaron tells us. And again, when, or if, he does announce his gayness, I’d like to hold off on the National Day of Gayness Recognition, and hold off on the awarding of The Gay Agenda and the Official Coming Out Toaster Oven to ask him why, why, WHY he was so anti-gay in his politics; was it self-loathing? Was it trying to shine a light somewhere else so the disco ball doesn’t shine on him? Or does he really believe that the LGBT community is just a bunch of second class citizen who don’t deserve the same rights and privileges bestowed upon heterosexual Americans?

I don’t care if Schock is gay. I don’t care if anyone is gay. I’d just like to like in a world where people can be honest about who they are and who they love and why they chose that belt.

In November 2016, former Illinois congressman Aaron Schock was charged in a 24-count indictment Thursday, alleging that he defrauded the government of more than $100,000 by falsifying vouchers for reimbursement for personnel travel, and filing false tax returns. 

Schock had resigned from Congress in 2015 after federal investigators dug into allegations of the lawmaker's questionable spending on air travel and office decor.

To this day Aaron Schock maintains he is full-on heterosexual.