Aaron Schock

“I am resigning even though I am not corrupt. I’m also not gay. I am not a crook. These are not the droids you are looking for.”

Corrupt Republican representative Aaron Schock resigned today, admitting no wrong doing.

The closeted anti-gay Schock was brought down not by his hypocrisy, but by numerous ethical violations which kept piling up so fast that he had to do something. Let’s see:

He used taxpayer money to lavishly decorate his Capitol offices to look like Downton Abbey
He took private planes everywhere and tried to hide the costs by listing the expenses as “software”
He apparently hired his boyfriend at an enormous salary as his “personal photographer” using taxpayer money, of course.
He sold his home for above its value to a contributor who wanted nothing in return, I tell you! Nothing!
and of course, there was that staffer who was forced to resign after posting a lot of racist tweets

I’m assuming his resignation is part of some deal to not have charges brought against him or something similar, or perhaps there is more corruption out there that we just don’t know about that this deal will keep secret.

In any event, good riddance.

(thanks to Glenn Hauman for that terrible pun headline — it is St. Patrick’s Day, after all)

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the loudest opponents of gay rights are often closeted themselves.

And while I think it should be a personal choice as to whether someone should come out of the closet or not (because, really, it’s nobody’s business), there are times when hypocrisy needs to be exposed. I don’t like preachers who warn us not to violate the Ten Commandments while fathering out-of-wedlock children while married to someone else (Looking at you, Jesse Jackson), and I don’t like politicians fighting to keep gays from having rights while being gay themselves.

Congressman Aaron Schock is the latest example. He’s been outed by gay journalist Itay Hod for being a hypocrite. Schock is a Republican who hides his identity from his constituents. Hod argues that the media has an obligation to report this — not because being gay is wrong, but because the congressman is a hypocrite, lying to the voters, in the same way you would report a politician who fights against illegal immigrants while knowingly hiring them.

Schock will join a long line of outed people who fought against gay rights, and will probably lose his seat because of it. After all, Republicans don’t like politicians who are gay.

If only he had merely cheated on his wife while claiming to be hiking the Appalachian trail. Or had been caught with prostitutes while wearing diapers. Or divorced his wife while she was in the hospital for cancer so he could marry the woman he had been having an affair with. Those sorts of things don’t bother Republicans, as we know. Mark Sanford, David Vitter, and Newt Gingrich are still respected members of the party.

But being gay? Well, that’s unforgivable.