Chris Gallant was already facing an uphill battle before controversy struck. The retired military pilot and former air traffic controller is running as a Democrat to unseat the incumbent representative of New York’s first congressional district, which encompasses the eastern half of Long Island and has been Republican since 2015.
But on Sept. 13, The New York Post published an article revealing that Gallant had modeled leather and other BDSM-related gear for a San Francisco-based sex shop. The outlet published several photos of him wearing the gear while referencing others of him “fully naked and having sex with another man.” While The Post, a right-leaning publication, framed the discovery as scandalous, Gallant has chosen to lean into it—he quickly responded online, saying, “I’m proud of who I am. I won’t be shamed into silence – and I won’t allow my private life to be distorted and weaponized against me.”
Just three days after the article was published, his campaign ran an ad touting a new slogan: “Make Politics Sexy Again.”
Ultimately, the attempted scandal seems to have only boosted Gallant’s profile, putting him on a national stage and paving the way for sympathetic media coverage from The New York Times, New York Magazine, Salon, The Daily Show and more. In this episode of “UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton,” we’re sitting down with Gallant to discuss his campaign and why “sex” shouldn’t be a dirty word in politics.
“UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton” is a new podcast by Uncloseted Media, an investigative LGBTQ-focused nonprofit news publication. Follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. YouTube // Spotify // Apple
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Host: Spencer Macnaughton
Editor: Sean Robinson
Reporting: Bella Sayegh and Hope Pisoni
Social producer/Design: Sophie Holland
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