Disgraced Former GOP Rep. Aaron Schock Comes Out As Gay, Says He Regrets Opposing LGBT Rights Laws

Infamous former Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Illinois) came out as a gay on Thursday in a post on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9W8bGvjTp-/

“I am gay. For those who know me and for many who only know of me, this will come as no surprise,” the post began. 

Schock was first elected to congress to represent Illinois 18th congressional district in 2009, and he served four terms. He opposed same sex marriage, and the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that banned LGBT people from serving in the military.

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“In 2008, as a Republican running in a conservative district, I took the same position on gay marriage held by my party’s nominee, John McCain,” he said in the statement. “That position against marriage equality, though, was also then held by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as well.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9IW1swDT02/

His tenure in Congress was cut short in 2015 when an ethics investigation began looking into reports that Schock spent tens of thousands of dollars on lavish trips and office decor.

The GOP representative resigned, and then in 2016 was charged with 24 felony counts including wire fraud, falsification of election filings, and theft of government funds. The charges were dropped last year, but Schock was still ordered to pay $42,000 to the IRS, $68,000 to his congressional campaign fund, and $40,000 back to the government for the decorated office.

He wrote that if he were still in Congress today he “would support LGBTQ rights in every way” he could.

“I realize that some of my political positions run very much counter to the mainstream of the LGBTQ movement, and I respect them for those differences. I hope people will allow for me the same,” he said.

In his 2,097 word statement, he even included a reference to the woman in his office who once told The Washington Post that Schock decorated his office like the the PBS show “Downton Abbey.”

“Even years into my time in Washington, I was still naïve enough to wonder why the news media would run with an utterly false story about me and a show I’d  never even heard of, and still haven’t seen, Downton Abbey,” he wrote.