A secret gay sex scandal has rocked the Republican Party as married men and a sitting member of Congress have been accused of sleeping with male escorts — even as their party thunders about traditional family values.
In candid interviews, young, muscular sex workers in Washington DC described a booming business fueled by Republican officials, from state lawmakers and high-powered lobbyists to federal government staffers and at least one congressman.
The revelations come as the GOP faces renewed scrutiny over its hypocrisy on homosexuality — publicly championing the traditional nuclear family while privately indulging in the very behavior many Republicans denounce.
One DC-based male escort described having a two-year relationship with a sitting Midwestern congressman who, during that period, had multiple serious girlfriends.
The 29-year-old sex worker with ‘boy next door looks’ described dinners at downtown DC eatery Butterworth’s — a popular MAGA haunt — followed by ‘late nights,’ he told the Daily Mail, on the condition that neither man was identified.
The unnamed lawmaker is ‘closeted, cautious, and carried the weight of a public image that left no room for who he really was,’ the escort said.
‘It’s gotten difficult to ignore the dissonance between the man I know in private and the votes he casts publicly.’ He said the Republican is now engaged to a woman.
Another escort, a 35-year-old with chiseled features and a bodybuilder’s physique, was also candid. He described officials in the federal government, a state senator, and lobbyists among his clients.
The 29-year-old sex worker with ‘boy next door looks’ described dinners at downtown DC eatery Butterworth’s followed by ‘late nights,’ he told the Daily Mail, on the condition that neither man was identified
‘I see a lot of Republican clients on the low,’ he said. ‘I am not going to out my clients. But there are many in the Republican Party.’
The revelations echo comments from Grindr CEO George Arison, who revealed his app sees dramatic surges in activity during major Republican gatherings, including a ‘significant spike’ at the party’s July 2024 convention in Milwaukee.
Local users reported seeing ‘many more’ blank profiles than usual — the tell-tale sign of men seeking discreet encounters without revealing their names or faces — when thousands of buttoned-up conservatives descended on the Midwestern city.
It’s not the first time. Similar surges have been recorded at other GOP gatherings over the years, suggesting that for some Republican attendees, the party’s national meetings double as covert dating events.
The GOP’s 2024 platform quietly dropped explicit condemnations of same-sex marriage — a striking shift from past years. But the party remains heavily influenced by religious conservatives who view homosexuality as sinful, immoral, or socially destructive.
Butterworth’s in downtown Washington DC is frequently visited by top Republican politicians such as Steve Bannon
Donald Trump’s version of the Republican Party may be less hostile to gay people than previous incarnations
House Speaker Mike Johnson has controversially called same-sex marriage ‘the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy’ and once described homosexuality as ‘inherently unnatural’ and a ‘dangerous lifestyle.’
LGBTQ advocates say such rhetoric makes the GOP inherently anti-gay, despite signs of modernization.
They point to the Trump administration’s record: rolling back protections for transgender people, pushing book bans for titles with LGBTQ themes, and supporting laws restricting gender-affirming care for minors.
Yet President Donald Trump himself is widely considered personally tolerant — even welcoming — toward gay people.
He has attended same-sex weddings, waved a rainbow flag at rallies , and appointed openly gay officials, including current Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has been married to attorney John Freeman since 2011.
Trump is also a mega-fan of the Village People, the gay disco group.
Still, no amount of rainbow-flag waving at the top can erase decades of Republican scandals.
The gay hookup app Grindr saw a spike in users during the 2024 GOP convention in Milwaukee
Grindr serves a range of users, but is often associated with gay men seeking casual sex
‘Family values’ Idaho Republican Larry Craig was arrested for lewd conduct in a men’s restroom
The party has repeatedly been rocked by politicians who denounce homosexuality by day, only to be caught in compromising situations by night.
The cases are infamous:
- Larry Craig, the Republican senator from Idaho who campaigned on ‘family values,’ was arrested in 2007 for allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. Craig denied wrongdoing but did not seek re-election.
- Ed Schrock, a Virginia Republican congressman and Baptist church president, withdrew from his 2004 re-election bid after recordings surfaced of him allegedly seeking sex with a man via a hookup phone service — despite opposing changes to allow gay people to serve openly in the military.
- Wes Goodman, an Ohio Republican state lawmaker who championed ‘natural marriage,’ resigned in 2017 after details emerged of sexual encounters with men, including in his state office.
- Numerous other state-level lawmakers and party operatives have quietly resigned or faded from public life following similar revelations.
For critics, each scandal reinforces the charge of hypocrisy — Republicans invoking scripture and ‘protecting the children’ while engaging in the very behaviors they seek to legislate against.
There have also been similar scandals involving Democrats — congressional aide Aidan Maese-Czeropski, 24, was fired in 2023 over an amateur sex tape — but they are less controversial, given the party’s embrace of LGBTQ issues.
The Milwaukee surge offered a rare, data-driven glimpse into what happens once the speeches conclude and the after-parties begin.
Arison did not release exact numbers, but one analysis revealed a 166 percent jump in Grindr activity during the convention.
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‘There was a definite spike in usage,’ Arison told UnHerd, adding Grindr’s user base is ‘very diverse,’ including card-carrying Republicans.
High-profile GOP figures such as Bessent, he noted, show that ‘gays are achieving a level of acceptance in society that is positive.’
But he added: ‘There’s no way to get around the fact that there are people on the right who are not yet okay with gay people.
‘They might be tolerant, but they’re not in any way supportive — and frankly, they would want to take away rights in a way that would be very, very problematic.’
The contradictions in GOP ranks go back decades. In the late 1970s, California conservatives pushed the Briggs Initiative to bar gay and lesbian teachers from public schools — a move so extreme that even Ronald Reagan opposed it.
It was during this period that the Log Cabin Republicans, the party’s first major gay advocacy group, was formed. But acceptance remained elusive.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Republican officials could still derail a rival’s career with mere insinuations of homosexuality. That culture of fear, secrecy, and public condemnation created fertile ground for double lives — a pattern still visible today.
Though some insiders believe the GOP is slowly evolving.
Others argue that the party’s mixed messaging — softening its stance on marriage while still vilifying queer culture — leaves the party with the worst of both worlds: alienating progressives while breeding distrust among younger conservatives who value authenticity over moral posturing.
Meanwhile, location-based apps like Grindr make secrecy harder than ever. With GPS matchmaking, it’s difficult to slip into a city without leaving a digital trace.
Democrat congressional aide Aidan Maese-Czeropski, 24, was fired over the emergence of a sex tape inside a hearing room
This latest scandal comes less than two years after the Senate was rocked by another one involved the Democratic Party.
Congressional aide Aidan Maese-Czeropski, 24, was fired over the emergence of a sex tape inside a Senate hearing room.
The video depicts a graphic sex act and was reportedly leaked after being ‘shared in a private group for gay men in politics.’
While not confirmed to be one of the men, Maese-Czeropski was publicly connected to the congressional hearing clip, and is no longer employed by the Senate. In a post to social media, he admitted he’d shown ‘poor judgement.’
