Gay Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has finally admitted to previously dressing in drag despite initially denying the “outrageous claim.”
His admission comes as a new poll shows that a majority of New Yorkers want him to resign. Investigators are also examining whether he violated campaign finance laws while nightly comedy shows ruthlessly mock him.
“No, I was not a drag queen in Brazil, guys,” Santos told reporters at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport last Saturday. “I was young, and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life.”
“Sue me for having a life.” I love that somehow santos feels that people are being unfair to him. He is a member of a party that demonizes the very thing that he was. It’s the breathtaking hypocrisy, stupid.
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) January 22, 2023
Despite downplaying his drag past, images and videos suggest that Santos had “fun” at several festivals over three years. The photos were shared by Eula Rochard, a 58-year-old drag queen in Brazil who said she knew Santos when he was a teen performing in drag under the name Kitara Ravache. A video appeared to show Santos wearing drag at Pride events in 2005 and 2008.
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Santos initially denied it, saying, “The most recent obsession from the media claiming that I am a drag Queen or ‘performed’ as a drag Queen is categorically false. The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results. I will not be distracted nor fazed by this.”
Santos’s initial denial follows admitted lies he has told about his past. But his eventual admission comes as Republicans and conservatives have increasingly demonized drag queens as sexual predators who “groom” children into sexual abuse and transgender identity.
A recent Siena College poll found that 71 percent of New York City suburbanites think Santos should resign. Only 8 percent of respondents said they had a favorable view of Santos. Santos has repeatedly said that he won’t quit. He was recently given seats on two low-level House committees: the Committee on Small Business and the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
But his constituents are still looking to remove him from office, and Republicans are quietly looking for someone to replace him.
Santos also faces multiple ethics complaints as local and federal investigators examine his campaign finances.
Santos has claimed to be married to a man, but he has been seeing without a wedding ring, and media outlets can’t find any public record of his same-sex marriage. He has aligned himself with rabidly anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and recently said that LGBTQ+ families “create troubled individuals.”
