Marco Rubio, along with everyone else seeking the highest office in the land, has had his life turned upside-down in an American tradition that’s at best called “vetting” and at worst, “invasion of privacy.” The reality is somewhere in the middle.
One line of investigation has led to an after-hours 1990 arrest with a man named Angel Barrios in a public park well-known for gay cruising.
And while it’s completely speculative to suggest the two were there to get frisky — though Trump supporters, as you can imagine, are salivating at the chance to cast Rubio as a closeted homosexual — there’s no guess-work needed in connecting Barrios, decades later, with one of the most notorious gay porn rings in Florida’s history.
Related: Republicans Are Using Marco Rubio’s Boots For Gay-Baiting
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
But let’s start with what we know about the arrest.
On May 23, 1990, an 18-year-old Rubio was with Barrios and another teen at Alice C. Wainwright Park after dark when they were detained. “People went out there to smoke illegal substances, have sex, drink,” a police spokesman told the Post in a story published last Friday.
The teens were booked that night around 9:30 p.m., though the misdemeanor charges were later dropped. Rubio and Barrios went on to share a townhouse while Rubio attended Santa Fe Community College.
Fast-forward fifteen years, and Rubio is sworn in as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, reflecting his meteoric rise in the state’s Republican party.
Related: Antigay Republican Lawmaker Caught Cruising Grindr For A Winter Cuddle Bud
During that time, Barrios worked in property management. In 2007, he had his own experience in the spotlight when it was revealed a house owned by his family was being used by a website called CocoDorm.com as a gay porn webcam location.
Dozens of muscular black and Hispanic men lived at the house, earning a $1,200 monthly payment plus room and board to have their lives recorded. Scheduled orgies were mandatory.
The story was brought to light by this NBC 6 report:
Following the report, the City of Miami sued Barrios for illegally running an adult business in a residential area.
Then Barrios sued the city in federal court — with CocoDorm.com as a co-plaintiff.
Related: Phillip Hinkle’s Sugar Baby Turns CocoDorm.com Porn Performer
They argued that since the webcam footage was being consumed off-site, there was nothing illegal about the business as it was all protected under the First Amendment.
Ultimately the feds sided with the city, and Barrios’ brief stint in the gay porn industry was over.
Bauhaus
GOP candidate lineup of self-loathing closet cases:
Rubio
Cruz
Paul
Santorum
Huckabee
Carson
Did I miss any?
Skot Skotnicki
Haha!
Ronald Wei
So weird and shady.
Captain Obvious
@Ronald Wei: Literally every politician ever.
MCHG
@Bauhaus: how anyone could believe Rand Paul or Ben Carson to be gay is beyond me. Why is being gay such a bad thing that whenever there’s someone disliked by any segment of the gay community they’re accused of being gay?
Of course queens think that having a drink and rooming with another guy means they’re sleeping together, queens don’t have straight friends to begin with so the thought of having a beer with one or having one as a roommate is unfathomable to them.
Desert Boy
When I look at Marco Rubio my Gaydar goes on blast.
Roy Hortman
Rubio cool
Bauhaus
@MCHG:
Was that a stab at humor?
Atomicrob
This may explain his vehement anti-gay voting record…those who are the most vociferously anti-gay harbor unresolved, subconscious homosexual attractions… Get some therapy!!!
Darsithis
Let me get this straight – he happened to hang out with a guy that 15 years later was arrested for a gay porn/housing thing? How does that have anything to do with his sexuality or his career?
I’m a gay man who has straight friends, are they all suddenly gay because they’re associated with me?
Mack
@Darsithis: I believe he was arrested in an area known for gay cruising. Although the charges were dropped, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
dean089
Is there evidence, though, that Rubio and Barrios have remained friends? I am not in any way a Rubio supporter, but I would be mortified if I was being judged today based on people I knew when I was 18 and, in most cases, have not seen or heard from since then.
Kangol
@dean089: True, but were you banging them? Were they banging you? Did you get arrested with them in a cruising/drug park? Did you room with them for years? Did they later go on to host a gay sex-orgy site that has sparked lots of controversy?
Zack Izhot
That face ð?? ughh
Rob Laughlin
I hate Rubio, but this is a stretch. He was 18 and likely had no clue everything that went on there.
Why couldn’t it have been at 28???
Bauhaus
I’m sure it was a huge misunderstanding the evening Rubio was detained in a known gay cruising park. Perhaps he was there doing volunteer work – picking up trash…
maddog6975
This Presidential Candidate engaged in some shady behavior many years ago. He was arrested after some sort of activity went down in car, in a park, late at night. That area of the park was notorious drug deals and gay sex. While the Candidate conveniently leaves this incident out of any biography about his early life, that information can be confirmed through public records. However, we have some additional, EXCLUSIVE info that may provide some context – and a bit of a twist – to our story! The Candidate later wound up living with the man with whom he was caught in the car. That man was eventually charged by local authorities for running a business out of his home. The focus of the business? Gay porn! BONUS CLUE: The staff person who leaked this to us is certainly going to get the boot.
Sluggo2007
I’m not the least bit surprised.
yoyo22
http://www.gay69.biz/
scotshot
@maddog6975: Look up Rubio’s brother in law.
SFHandyman
The reason a lot of anti gay laws got passed is because the politicians who were caught associating with gays were targeted by the press because associating with gays was a scandal. All they had to do to get out of this shame of association, is to go vociferously anti-gay.
You using this against Rubio is setting up the same pattern that set off all the gay witch hunts in the past. If a politician can have gay friends without hitting the news, they are happy to leave us alone and even help us. If they get painted with a negative brush by being merely associated with gays, the guns are drawn and it is the gays that lose.
Bauhaus
@SFHandyman:
If women would just stop wearing provocative clothing, stay home, and stop complaining, they wouldn’t get harassed and assaulted. Get the f outta here.