When it comes to LBGTQ+ issues, Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina is about as homophobic as they get.
The 57-year-old MAGA Republican is against marriage equality, going so far as to co-sponsor a 2015 proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to have same-sex marriage banned.
Marriage, he believes, is sacred and should be as God intended: between one man and one woman.
He’s also against equal protections of queer people in everything from housing to employment, and he thinks anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech should be protected under free speech laws.
Oh, and he’s a huge supporter of “religious freedom” protections that make it legal for private businesses to discriminate against gay people if that’s what God wants them to do.
And he does all this under the guise of championing “traditional family values.”
According to his reelection campaign website, Duncan’s #1 top priority is to promote “the values that you instill into your children at the dinner table.”
But according to his soon-to-be ex-wife, Melody, his #1 top priority has been to sleep with as many women as possible behind her back for the past 30-some years.
Melody just filed for divorce on Friday, accusing her husband, who is up for reelection in 2024, of pursuing multiple affairs over the course of their 34-year marriage and abandoning his family to live with his current mistress, who works as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.
According to the court filing, the congressman “admitted this adulterous relationship to many people, including [the couple’s three sons] and members of his staff” and has allegedly flaunted his latest affair in private while pretending to have a happy, healthy marriage on the campaign trail.
In fact, just last month, he attended the 12th annual Faith and Freedom BBQ, during which he called Melody his “supportive and loving wife” (who he purportedly cheats on).
But according to the filing, immediately after giving that speech, Duncan “left the next day and went directly to the home of his paramour, Liz Williams, in the Washington DC area, where [Melody] is informed and believes he continues to reside.”
“[Melody] is informed and believes that [Duncan’s] extramarital relationship(s) is/are widely known in political circles in South Carolina and Washington DC.”
According opensecrets.org, Williams runs Liz Williams & Co, a lobbying firm with seven clients, including the Altria Group, one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of tobacco-related products, and Olin Corp, a manufacturer of gun ammunition.
In Friday’s court filing, Melody made it clear she’s not messing around.
In addition to wanting the marriage immediately dissolved, she’s asking for alimony plus the couple’s primary residence in South Carolina and their vacation home in Montana.
Not only that, she also wants Duncan be solely responsible for all of the couple’s outstanding debts, including medical expenses and attorney and legal fees, and she wants him to keep paying for hers and their adult children’s health insurance.
Damn.
Since the divorce papers were filed on Friday, neither Melody nor Duncan, who met in high school and were married in 1988, have issued any comment. Williams has also been keeping a low profile.
We have a feeling, though, that we’ll be hearing more–a LOT more–about this in the coming weeks and months.
abfab
The dinner table.
My2CentsWorth
Children of decent parents can AND DO learn a lot of good while eating but parents of bad folks such as this guy learn a lot that makes it bad for other people.
abfab
Pass the gravy and the gabbagooll, MA! Right you are, 2Cents!
jax florida
Republican, family values, anti LGBTQ, hypocrite….these are all synonyms.
abfab
Like he had time to groom (force-feed the children bullshit family values) at the dinner table with all of that whoring around he was doing in Washington and in the lowlands of SC.
Now there’s a GOPTROLL. He’s one of yours INBAMA/SHAVER (SAME PERSON). You might say he has a mental illness if you were a licensed doctor with at least one degree.
ZzBomb
$10 says he’s paid for several abortions.
My2CentsWorth
It might be safe to make that a $1,000 bet with very low risks of losing your money
abfab
With her contributions to a safe, secure and clean clinic with non-disclosure agreements to sign.
FreddieW
If you think scandal hurts family values Republicans, think again. Look up Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee.
Fname Optional Lname
They do not get to decide if my family is valid. They matter not and it’s time the laws protect all Americans.
Fahd
This sort of hypocrisy seems typical for these ¨family-values¨ Republicans. I hate to think that all he will have to do is cry on tv and proclaim that he has returned to Jesus for the scandal not to impact his reelection, but I have a feeling that will be it
At least, Melody is taking him to the cleaners, but how can she claim entitlement to the cash he no doubt has in safety deposit boxes and various clandestine hiding places? If she doesn´t already have them, she needs some good detectives with accounting degrees
My2CentsWorth
Lets not forget that she was BY HIS SIDE for years as he did harm after getting elected to office.
Fahd
@My2cents – you’re right. May they both burn in hell.
abfab
Really, I know! Look at her. The happy wife. The phony family from Rednecksville, USA
Kangol2
Wow, knock me over with a feather. Another rabidly pro “family values,” “sanctity of marriage,” anti-LGBTQ RepubliCon whoremaster getting busted, this time by his soon-to-be ex wife, for not being able to stop shtupping any woman he could get his hands on.
Sounds almost like…the leader of his party, Don the Con, who gleefully admitted on tape to grabbing women by their “p*ssy,” has been convicted of sexual assault, accused of rape by one wife and numerous other women, banged and paid off two porn stars while his wife was pregnant, etc., but is an iCon to the “family values” Talibangelical Right!
What a party, what a country, what a world!
dbmcvey
All these MAGAs are freaks.