The conservative site RedState published revenge porn of bisexual Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA) despite being a site operating under a media group that pushes “Christian and family-themed content [with] conservative values,” Right Wing Watch reports.
RedState published a redacted photo of Hill topless with a precursor disclaiming “Warning: Explicit Image.” The publication has defended its decision to publish the photo, but its decision seemed driven primarily by a desire for traffic and to shame the politician.
Related: A “family values”congressman from Texas is apologizing after graphic photo surfaces
RedState‘s editor-at-large Kira Davis said, “The powers-that-be [at RedState] decided it was important that there was solid evidence of the relationship(s) that may have violated House ethics.” However, the site had already provided “solid evidence” by publishing text messages that confirmed Hill’s affair with her legislative director Graham Kelly.
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In the article featuring the topless photo of Hill, RedState’s deputy managing editor Jen Van Laar wrote, “RedState was also provided with intimate photographs of the women, which we have chosen not to publish,” referring to images of Hill sexually engaged with another woman.
In Hill’s resignation letter, she admitted to having an affair with an unnamed staff member and blamed both the news of her affair and the leak of her personal photos on “hateful political operatives” and her “abusive husband” Kenny Heslep, who she is currently divorcing.
Hill admitted that during the “final tumultuous years of my abusive marriage, I became involved in a relationship” with someone on her campaign staff, without specifically naming that person or saying if the affair continued into her term as a representative. “I know that even a consensual relationship with a subordinate is inappropriate,” she wrote, “but I still allowed it to happen despite my better judgement.”
Hill resigned after just 10 months in office. She has promised to seek out the people responsible for this breach of her privacy and bring them to justice.
