Three male escorts have claimed that they had sex with the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham—with one engaging in relations with him when he was just 17.
The men are featured in a documentary from The Young Turks, which they worked on for a year. Graham, who was one of the most conservative, anti-LGBTQ senators during his long tenure, had also been plagued by rumors about his alleged homosexuality until the day he died.
“His last words to me were ‘I needed that,’” said Cory, who started as a sex worker after he was kicked out of his parents house for coming out in 2005. He detailed his first meeting with Graham at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.
“He was very professional looking.... He looked like a different class than I’m used to.… But the thing that stood out to me was his accent. He had this big, grandiose Southern accent that I hadn’t heard in years,” Cory said. He then claimed that Graham liked being “degraded,” spanked, and called “faggot.” Cory said Graham paid him $1,500, and The Young Turks shared various travel logs that place both him and Graham in D.C. at the same time.
Two other men, Jesse and Kelvin, had similar stories with Graham.
“It’s not exactly a secret that he was a homosexual,” Jesse said.
Kelvin alleges he met Graham in Arizona in 2001 when he was 17 years old. “He contacted me, said that he had heard about me from someone, that I came recommended,” he said. “I asked Lindsey what was bringing him into town. He said that a buddy of his was having some major event that he was gonna be there for.” That buddy was Senator John McCain, who Graham was visiting for a Fourth of July party.
“As he was adjusting his pants, he got a good look at me. And then that was when he was a bit startled, and almost terrified. He looked at me then with a very stern, angry scowl on his face and he was like, ‘You’re under the age of 18, you’re 17 aren’t you?’” Graham panicked, but then gave in after Kelvin lied and told him he had just turned 18. He was paid $120.
“So after spending his whole life being homophobic, Lindsey was having sex with underage male prostitutes???” liberal commentator Harry Sisson wrote online.
This is one of the longest running rumors in Washington. It matches what others said in the days after Graham’s death, and makes every one of Graham’s homophobic votes, policies, and comments—including voting against gay marriage multiple times—all the more despicable.
Watch the full documentary here.