Aaron Schock
Aaron Schock

Well I’m just sitting here in a state of shock! Shock I tell you! Can you imagine a Republican Congressman who votes against gay rights and loves to whip up his conservative base with condescending rhetoric about how gay people and marriage equality are destroying America TURNING OUT TO BE SAUSAGE CONNOISSEUR HIMSELF?

If you can’t believe, if you can’t trust a Republican politician to be honest and forthright, who can you trust? Are there any true, red-blooded, REAL American men left or right-handed, who aren’t being sucked in by the evil gay agenda?   I’m in shock! SHOCK I TELL YOU!

Did I tell you I’m in shock?

(reprinted from Huffington Post) 

Journalist Itay Hod unleashed a wave of controversy when he appeared to out hunky Republican Congressman Aaron Schock (R-IL) as gay on Facebook on Friday.

In the post, which has since gone viral on social media and has been covered by Queerty, Gawker and the Miami Herald to name a few media outlets, Hod writes:

“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?”

 

Later in the post, which can be read in full here, Hod, who has appeared on CBS and LOGO, notes “we’ve been so effective at convincing everyone that outing people is a crime against humanity, that we’ve made it impossible for any network or news organization to talk about this ‘hypothetical’ gay republican congressman and his hypocritical vote against gay rights.”

Hod never specifically names Schock but at the end of his post includes a link to an Americablog.com piece entitled “The 7 gayest Aaron Schock Instagram posts of 2013” along with a note that reads, “not sure why… but had a sudden urge to share this.”

As of Saturday afternoon, Schock’s Instagram account was locked. Earlier this week eyebrows

The guy love to take shirtless pictures and wears white pants with baby powder blue belts and we're only now finding out now that he's manhole inspector?
The guy loves to take shirtless pictures and wears white pants with baby powder blue belts and we’re only now finding out now that on evenings and weekends he moonlights as a manhole inspector? DUH. (MG)

were raised when a rumor spread that newly out British diving star Tom Daley was of the 71 people the congressman was following on the photo sharing site.

Schock is no stranger to speculation about his sexuality, with many people pointing to his flamboyant fashion choices and being caught by TMZ strolling through Tampa’s gay neighborhood as fairly convincing evidence of him being gay.

The politician, who has a severe anti-LGBT voting record and currently holds a zero approval rating from the Human Rights Campaign, has repeatedly stated that he is straight.

When asked about the gay rumors by HuffPost Gay Voices Editor-at-Large Michelangelo Signorile at the 2012 Republican National Convention, Schock responded, “Those questions are completely ridiculous and inappropriate… I’ve said [I’m straight] before and I don’t think it’s worthy of further response. I think you can look it up.”

As of Saturday afternoon, Schock had not responded to Hod’s post or made any kind of statement regarding the controversy or his sexuality.