the vilified

Should Rep. Chris Lee Take Even More Heat Because He Cruised Trans Women On Craigslist?

Nothing makes a political sex scandal hotter than throwing in trans and cross-dressing elements! It’s what the people want to read about, our outside pollsters tell us. Rep. Chris Lee, the New York Republican who resigned within hours of a story breaking about his Craigslist flirtations, has gone off the grid, which means it’s up to us discuss the latest revelation: that he was searching for trans and cross-dressing women on the site too.

Does the inclusion of two trans women push this story any further? Eh, not really, though you could argue his social conservative platform only further unravels knowing he is into trans women, because don’t his kind think these folks are disgusting and abhorrent?

But let’s be clear: Throwing in the T-factor makes this story a heightened media sensation, and will be used to shame Lee even further about his extramarital activities. (Would we be more interested in Lee’s scandal if he was targeting black women? Actually, probably. This is D.C. after all.)

Nothing, of course, changes one crucial fact: So far there is no evidence Lee actually met up with, let alone has sex with any of these women, cis or otherwise. Which doesn’t make him a saint. But outside of any moral objections we might have about a married father and politician getting his freak on with strangers, the idea that a straight man would be sexually attracted to trans and cross-dressing women isn’t something to criticize him over. Maybe instead, he needs to become a poster boy? If only he comes forward to say he isn’t ashamed of his sexual attraction, of course.

(And before you go, everyone jump on Maureen O’Connor, from the gay-owned website Gawker, which broke the story, for using the word “transvestite” on television. Baaaaaad Maurren!)

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