The New York Times just published a deep dive into Josh Hawley, speaking to more than 50 people close to the antigay senator, including his prom date, middle school principal, and a Black classmate he used to bully, about his uber-conservative upbringing, extreme ideological beliefs, and how he is positioning himself to be the intellectual heir of Trumpism.
But perhaps the most interesting revelation in the article is about a poster Hawley allegedly kept hanging in is college dorm room while studying at Stanford:
Above his bed he hung a sepia-toned poster of a shirtless male model cradling a newborn; when asked by classmates, he said it reflected his fervent stance against abortion.
The poster was of Spencer Rowell’s iconic photograph titled “L’Enfant.”
Per Wikipedia:
L’enfant, better known as Man and Baby is a 1987 photographic poster depicting a shirtless male model (Adam Perry) holding a young baby. The image, photographed by Spencer Rowell, was published and distributed in the 1980s by British company Athena Posters. The photograph was said to herald the “sensitive but sexy New Man” aesthetic.
We have a lot of questions about this, the main one being: Why did Josh Hawley, who hates LGBTQ people, have a poster of a half naked man hanging above his bed in his college dorm room?
Related: Josh Hawley’s wife files criminal complaint against peaceful protestor for violating her tranquility
Unfortunately, we’ll probably never know since a spokesperson for the senator told the New York Times that the homoerotic image was “not something he remembers. But he’s proudly pro-life.”
Here’s what people on Twitter are saying about it…
Josh Hawley at Stanford: “Above his bed he hung a sepia-toned poster of a shirtless male model cradling a newborn; when asked by classmates, he said it reflected his fervent stance against abortion.” Said poster:https://t.co/rTMANXTMnd pic.twitter.com/2lerwOKVkE
— Josh Barone (@joshbarone) March 8, 2021
Cmon, he took a lot of P🌈ide in that poster.
— Masshole on Safari ⚖️⚾️ 🥃🏒 (@Darth_JJ) March 8, 2021
The other poster above Josh Hawley’s bed at Stanford pic.twitter.com/LvnWO4GEGy
— Grant Ginder (@GrantGinder) March 8, 2021
Josh Hawley says old dorm room poster represented his belief in battling the buldge in big government pic.twitter.com/WgbD5dy47g
— ? DAWG ? WON ? (@dawg_won) March 9, 2021
“What motivates me to force women to carry pregnancies to term are photos of shirtless men holding babies.” https://t.co/i7UUvJVdsw
— Stephen Robinson (@SER1897) March 9, 2021
Even if he isn’t secretly gay, that poster definitely shows what a raging misogynist Josh Hawley is
— Nicoletta (@MissNicoletta) March 9, 2021
Josh Hawley is like oh yea and I had this A&F poster on my dorm wall because I've always been really against deficit spending pic.twitter.com/YFYeKXtRWL
— Tim Hogan (@timjhogan) March 8, 2021
TWITTER: "The New York Times is implying that Josh Hawley is gay."
GAY MEN EVERYWHERE: "We don't want him." https://t.co/XhfONVjcw5
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) March 8, 2021
Josh Hawley also said about the poster on the ceiling above his bed that "it reflected his fervent stance against the re-manufacturing process for tires that replace the tread on worn tires…I'm totally against retreads…like a lot. Totally."https://t.co/ahG3M8S9wp pic.twitter.com/1zHF5bxtCc
— Johnny ? (@JohnnyMuesli) March 9, 2021
Yeah, and my poster of Daisy Duke reflected my fervent stance in favor of wildflowers. pic.twitter.com/8IrazISYD1
— (((Ian Cluroe))) (@IDCluroe) March 8, 2021
This poster hangs above Josh Hawley’s bed. He said it stands for his fervent stance against gay actors playing gay roles pic.twitter.com/6fYlZJ0J94
— Justin Randall (@imjustinrandall) March 9, 2021
“Josh Hawley at Stanford: “Above his bed he hung a sepia-toned poster of a shirtless male model cradling a newborn; when asked by classmates, he said it reflected his fervent stance against abortion.” pic.twitter.com/v3psBWIXEF
— JSGinDC 🇺🇸🇱🇹 🏳️🌈🍸 (@JoeinWashDC) March 8, 2021
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
firstecho
…
Who the hell cares?
Is this journalism? Questioning what poster he had on his dorm room decades ago? “Omg it was a shirtless guy- closetcase XD”
Hawley has bad policies and undermines our democracy was his baseless questioning of the election. What was on his college room walls is not a concern.
henare
Who tf comes *here* for journalism, you dumbass?!? This is all about hypocrisy … and lols!
Cam
It is totally relevant if a right wing bigot is a closeted hypocrite. Why so bothered?
mailliw110
You took the time to comment, so…….YOU?
RyanMBecker
Are you criticizing Queerty or the NY Times? If the latter, you’re clearly oblivious to the fact that it was a small part of a much larger article. And it was mentioned by Hawley’s roommates so it would’ve been negligent to not ask Hawley about it.
As for Queerty, you also seem oblivious to its mission. Queerty never claims to be a source of hard news or original reporting. They are simply a repository of news that’s interesting to gay people. And fluff can certainly fall under that category — as you yourself just proved by not only clicking on the story, but actually commenting. This was just a fun article to feature some online reactions to the poster.
You editorial critics always amaze me with your ignorance. You don’t seem to realize that when you click or comment, you’re telling the bots that there is interest in the topic, which encourages them to post more. Interest statistics is what determines how much Queerty can charge advertisers. Furthermore, whenever you post silly comments like, “Who cares?”, you invite replies, which shows more interest. So basically, your holier-than-thou posting is self-defeating. Think about it.
MiguelInVanCT
If this NY Times article was about AOC having the iconic poster of Farah Fawcett over her bed in college, we would talk about how she was reversing gender norms.
Shouldn’t we focus on how he believes that “In today’s Republican Party, the path to power is to build up a lie in order to overturn democracy.”
I understand the click bait aspect, but sneak in some real things we should focus our energy on.
mailliw110
But then it wouldn’t be this article.
Mack
Where did he have his poster of Jeff Stryker?
henare
in his closet …
HenryHawke
On the ceiling over his bed so could fantasize while he……
ShiningSex
Closet queen!!! LOL!!!
GayEGO
According to the study of homophobia at the University of Maryland, this shows us that Hawley is a homophobic individual, a closet case who hates himself!
trsxyz
That poster was extremely popular, and I would not make any assumptions about one’s sexuality for having owned it. Yes Josh Hawley is a terrible person, but this is a pretty stupid article.
barryaksarben
It isnt stupid on the level of republican stupid. It is important we keep an eye on these people and try to understand what makes them so broken that they live to harm others. They are all full of greed and twisted by their deformed view of religion that is as far from christian as they could be
Cam
And just who was that poster popular with? IT sure as heck wasn’t straight men.
WindChime
If one happens to be anti-abortion, one would love that photo where a baby is being loved and cherished.
Cam
You’re on the other thread clapping for Milo Yianopolous advocating for Ex-Gay groups. So your agenda to defend bigoted Republicans is quite clear.
trsxyz
@Cam this is the only time I’ll ever address you directly. You are extremely annoying on this forum, particularly when you spend most of your time “vetting” other posters and their comments. Trying to determine their hidden “agenda” and “calling them out” for not towing-the-line on your preconceived notion of “correct” positions & behaviors. There… I’ve said it. So feel free to flail away…
Cam
@trsxyz
Translation: You couldn’t respond to me comment pointing out that the poster was NOT popular among straight men.
I also pointed out that you were on the other thread defending Milo Yianopolous. Which you couldn’t deny.
So in other words, you’re exposed as a Milo and Hawley defending right wing troll account and now are trying to deflect.
By the way, it was one of your other troll screenames that said they were not going to “Address me directly” anymore, so you just exposed this screename as being the same old troll. Nice work Monkey1, Openminded, TheREALTruth, TheAbsoluteTruth, Caddy, etc….
Openminded
I have to agree with you, trsxyz. All I see in the poster is a man, presumably father, who loves his infant. Anyone who knows anything about newborns knows that the skin to skin contact is very important. I one can justify claiming this poster is gay, then you have just as much evidence to claim it is pedophilia. It’s neither of those, it’s just an expression of father/child love IMHO.
sjdoug
I got stuck on the words “intellectual heir of Trumpism”.
Seth
“intellectual heir of Trumpism” is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, in print.
Can one inherit what never existed?
Is histrionic bigot now spelled i-n-t-e-l-l-e-c-t-u-a-l?
Good stuff, comedy gold.
Den
I think what this poster really shows is that it is the Republicans who are actually in league with the baby-eating, child trafficking, satan worshiping shape shifting lizard people. He’d gaze at this poster and think ahead to the succulent morsels he’d dine on when he became a mover and shaker in the GOP.
Why do you think they are so against abortion?
More unwanted babies for them to enjoy.
WindChime
One of the scariest and craziest posts that are ever posted here on queerty.
Heywood Jablowme
@Den: Projection! With QAnon, and Trump, and Republicans in general, it’s always projection.
@Wind Chime: Competing with YOUR crazy posts isn’t easy!
Creamsicle
This is a bit childish *and* a bit homophobic/sexist, isn’t it? Hawley has done and said plenty worth ridiculing, mocking, and criticizing. Why focus on this non-story?
Be honest Graham, you just spent all day on twitter and needed to post something, right?
For the record, I’m on board with ridiculing and condemning Hawley. I just think it should be over something substantive, otherwise we’re playing into the Fox News-style culture wars that got Trump elected.
James26
It’s totally homophobic, but also motivated by spite and malice. If Hawley had been caught on tape acting uncomfortable when seeing a poster of a shirtless guy, Queerty would have mocked him for that. Instead, he had a poster of a shirtless guy on his wall back in college, so they mock him for that. This is a malicious website.
Cam
The anti-LGBTQ bigot who votes against us had a picture of a shirtless guy in his dorm room. IT isn’t homophobic to mock him for that any more than it is to call out Lindsay Graham as an obvious self hating closet case.
Mehki
… Because we come here for the sarcasm, mockery, snark, and the comment section.
At least that’s why I’m here.
James26
Progressive gays: “We want to end toxic masculinity, to have straight men be more comfortable around other men without experiencing homophobic panic.”
Also progressive gays: “Ooooh, look! Josh had a picture of a shirtless guy and a baby on his wall 25 years ago!! He must be gayyyyy!!!”
Disgusting homophobic, hypocritical bullies.
mailliw110
“It was a joke!” Governor Cuomo.
Cam
Bring the troll it’s fainting couch.
Please, by all means, point out the legions of straight college guys who had this picture up in their room.
nathan
I am not sure that the poster is ‘homoerotic’ – I remember it very well at the time and never considered it to be homoerotic in intent or reality. Even it is seen by some as homoerotic, my feeling is that we will be wasting time and energy discussing ‘what this all means’ about Hawley’s sexuality. I don’t care if he a closet case or not – I personally hope he is not as I would not want him as part of our community.
What is far more important is his treasonous stance since the election. We should be looking for ways to prosecute this slime ball. I did find it amusing that he is referred to as the ‘intellectual heir to Trumpism’ – there is nothing intellectual or even clever about ‘Trumpism’ or its founder. It is not a political philosophy – it is simply a collection of American fascists
who have tried to emulate the propaganda stance created by the Nazis in the 1930s – i.e. lie and lie big and repeatedly.
blackhook
Why is every single Groping Old Party right winger such a strange creature?
BoomerMyles
Closet case. Hope hecontracts syphilis from a bathroom encounter.
BaltoSteve
Guys brains at that age are so all over the place. Could it be he has some attraction to men? Sure, it’s possible. It’s also possible that it was more of a version of hero worship. This model holding a child embodied everything Hawley wanted to be. Personally, I hope it really is something closer to the latter, the community doesn’t need another disgraced conservative politician outed by doing something supremely stupid.
Fahd
It’s important to know your enemy, so I’m glad the NYT is doing the deep dive into Hawley’s background – searching for ways to discredit him, and defuse the threat. A college-aged male having this poster over his bed does fuel speculation about whether he might have same-sex attraction; even if there also is a cute baby in the picture. Did he read bodybuilding magazines? He can’t be that much of a holy roller with that much naked flesh on the wall. Let’s keep digging – he’s a dangerous aspiring fascist, and I hope the media or his political opponents find a way to dash his political aspirations. Who comes up with outdoing Ted Cruz at his own shtick as a political strategy? God help us.
radiooutmike
I saw that poster a lot at college in the late 80s. It was either that, or the “A Hard Man Is Good to Find” poster on coed’s walls. Where as any gay guy I knew had Morrissey on their walls.
whateverokok
You speak the truth there. At least the gays that had taste, anyway. Which isn’t that many. You can take the queen out of the trashy gutter, but you can’t take the trashy gutter out of the queen.
ericr_wilson
These pathetic, repressed homosexuals are amusing — but this one’s dangerous too…. He is one of the hundred votes that can, and have, made our lives more difficult. Expose his latently (?) homosexual ass and finish him off for being a hypocrite….
ambroses
dareva bratan
KyleMichelSullivan
I’m just wondering what kind of fun he, Uncle Tom Cotton, Gym Jordan and Matt Gaetz have on Saturday nights, “being men with each other”…and if they’re passing Nestor around.
I, personally, hope they are NOT part of the gay community, because they would diminish us.
Joseph1971
The photo posted by Grant Ginder looks like the interview scene before the start of a Sean Cody or Corbin Fisher video. Great choice Grant…..those two guys look so familiar.
tjack47
That poster is indicative of nothing. It only perpetuates gay stereotypes.
Georgeiv2
Please don’t suggest hes gay ! hes such a pathetic little shit !
cuteguy
He’s is the Kevin spacey category of “no thank you”. We don’t need his membership
Invader7
We DON’T want this creepy, pathetic ,craven , spineless, ball-less , sniveling , whiny, weak ,lame ass LOSER !! The breeders can keep him & claim him as one of their myriad clones..
cuteguy
He doesn’t conveniently remember the poster like he won’t remember inciting the insurrectionists on Jan 6 with his now notorious Hitler like pic right before. That’s what the GQP cult teaches them, what would trump do
scotshot
The whole is the sum of its parts.