No, Lindsey Graham is not gay. Although there have been many questions surrounding the sexuality of the American Republican politician, he has since come out to clear the air that he is neither gay nor bisexual.
Born on July 9, 1955, and now 68 years old, Senator Lindsey Graham is one of the biggest politicians in the United States and one of the men who have dominated the American political space in the last 30 years. Despite his overwhelming successes, he is not married at the moment and has never been linked to any known woman, which has got many to keep speculating if he might be gay after all.
Is Senator Lindsey Graham Gay?
No, Senator Lindsey Graham is not gay. The senator has been the butt of joke of many jokes that seemed to suggest that he is gay for a long time now, but he has continued to maintain that he is not.
In 2018, he was forced to come out and explicitly point out that he is not gay when American comedian and actress Chelsea Handler took a swipe at him on National Coming Out Day. The comedian made a tweet saying that if anyone was wondering why Republicans took a sick day, it was likely because it was “#NationalComingOutDay.” She ended the post by adding, “Looking at you @LindseyGrahamSC.”
In response, Graham made it known that he was not gay. He said Handler knew nothing about him, and since it was a free country, she could say whatever she wanted. Graham added that he gave no thought to what the comedian was saying.
The senator once revealed that he was very close to getting married to a woman whose name he gave as Sylvia. She worked as a flight attendant for Lufthansa in Germany, but things did not work out between them. The relationship ended because Sylvia had an elderly mother, and she was not willing to leave Germany, where they met, for the United States. Graham was also not willing to remain in Germany, and so they parted ways.
Contrary to all that has been said about the sexuality of the senator, his closest friend, the late Senator John McCain, once revealed that Graham dated some attractive women in the past, even though he was never serious with any of them.
Rumors Suggesting That Lindsey Graham Is Gay Have Been There For a Long Time
Rumors surrounding the sexuality of Graham have been on for a very long time, most especially because the 68 years old American politician has never been linked to any known woman in the past apart from the flight attendant he talked about.
More so, another reason why the rumors have sustained that he might be gay is because of some claims made by certain individuals in the past, linking him to homosexuality. One example was in 2010 when a gay rights activist, Mike Rogers, came forward with a shocking claim that he had pictures of a man who spent a night with Graham.
In line with all the rumors swirling about the sexuality of Lindsey Graham, he was once described as “ambiguously gay” by his political opponent, Dave Feliciano, in 2017.
American actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg also took a swipe at the South Carolina Senator when she questioned his different stance on same-sex marriage and abortion on an episode of The View. She went further to state that maybe it was because he was soon getting married. The comment angered many, forcing her to come out and state that it was nothing more than a joke.
His sexuality was once mocked on MSNBC when a panel led by the network’s anchor Stephanie Ruhle joked that the senator has “Never Seen a Vagina! Never Seen a Naked Woman!” They suggested that he was gay when they were talking about abortion policy in the United States and the role of Graham.
As the rumors continued about him, Lindsey Graham also made a joke about it in 2010 when he spoke to the New York Times. He joked that even though he was sure it was going to get many gay men angry and many of them would jump off the Golden Gate Bridge, he was not available.
He Has Been Accused of Having Relationship With Several Men in the Past
Even though he has continued to maintain that he is straight and he has never been linked to anyone as his partner, there have been claims that he has had sexual relationships with several men in the past.
One of the most damning claims that the Senator was having sexual relationships with men came from gay adult film star Sean Harding. The adult actor claimed that Graham was very popular among male sex workers who referred to him as “Lady Graham.” He also added that they sometimes abbreviate the name to Lady G.
While Newsbusters editor Curtis Houck described the claims as transphobia, believing that the nickname suggested that Lindsey Graham was a trans woman, it was alleged that it was the Senator who preferred to be called Lady G because he was a gay man.
Harding made a tweet claiming that almost all the male adult workers he knew were hired at one point or another by a particular Senator. He did not call a name in the post, but social media users concluded it was Graham.
The accusation took social media by storm, drawing a lot of reaction from people who believed that the Senator was gay and others who thought that he was straight. One of the few people who maintained silence through the entire ordeal was the Republican Senator.
Senator Graham Was Strongly Opposed To Same-sex Marriage
Even though the rumors about his sexuality have sustained for a very long time, with many believing that he was a gay man in the closet, Senator Graham was among those who were opposed to same-sex marriage.
The Senator, who described himself as a proud defender of traditional marriage, voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 2013. In 2022, he revealed that he voted against the “Respect for Marriage Act.” According to the Senator, the act was supposed to protect gay marriages without putting religious freedoms and religious institutions at risk. However, he insisted that while it added nothing to protect gay marriages, it only created more uncertainties for religious liberty and institutions that reject gay marriage.
The South Carolina Republican has always believed that as against the 2015 Supreme Court judgment in the United States, which established the right to same-sex marriage, it should be left to states to decide on issues of same-sex marriage as well as abortion.
