Ever since I posted about anti-gay Republican Congressman Aaron Schock’s gayer-than-gay Instagram account, things have gotten awfully interesting, as Schock moves more than a few steps closer to being officially outed.

Things got particularly interesting when CBS/Logo’s Itay Hod posted a solid analysis of how the media is complicit in the hypocrisy, and bad deeds, of anti-gay politicians.

UPDATE: Aaron Schock just inexplicably locked down his Instagram account. It was once public, and now has been made private. Which makes one wonder what little Easter Eggs might be hidden among those photos that Schock is now hiding.

UPDATE: Conservative media has now picked up on the story.

Caught in the shower with another man

Let me quote a little of Hod’s post on Facebook:

Here’s a hypothetical: what if you know a certain GOP congressman, let’s just say from Illinois, is gay… and you know this because one of your friends, a journalist for a reputable network, told you in no uncertain terms that he caught that GOP congressman and his male roommate in the shower… together. now they could have been good friends just trying to conserve water. but there’s more. what if this congressman has also been caught by tmz cameras trolling gay bars. now what if you know that this very same guy, the darling of the gop, has also voted against repeal of don’t ask don’t tell, opposed the repeal of doma, is against gay marriage; and for the federal marriage amendment, which would add language to the us constitution banning gay marriage and would likely strike down every gay rights law and ordinance in the country? Are we still not allowed to out him?

Hod continues:

Let me ask another question… doesn’t the media have an OBLIGATION to expose his hypocrisy? if he had done something so hypocritical and he wasn’t gay, wouldn’t we demand journalists do their job? but they can’t… because we won’t let them. you’re not allowed to out ANYONE, we tell them. We’ve created a situation where even though news organizations know this guy is gay, they can’t report it because he hasn’t said so on twitter. If we keep saying that being gay is genetic; ergo, it’s no different than having blue eyes or blonde hair… than why are not allowed to mention it? why do we need anyone’s consent to talk about their sexuality? are we not allowed to say someone has blue eyes until they post a fb message telling us they are in fact blue?

Why is “gay” the only hypocrisy we don’t expose?

Hod has a point. We keep saying that being gay is just like being black, or Jewish, or Latino, then why do we hide the fact that people are gay when we don’t hide their race or ethnicity?

Now, one could argue that being gay can bring with it scorn and prejudice, thus the newly-outed gay person could be harmed by the revelation about their sexual orientation. But don’t blacks and Jews and Latinos face scorn and prejudice? A reporter wouldn’t hide any of those features of a congressional candidate, so why hide the fact that he’s gay?

Presumably reporters hide sexual orientation because the person in question doesn’t want it revealed. But since when is that dispositive in determining what the media does and does’t report about someone? I’m sure Anthony Weiner and Elliot Spitzer both didn’t want facts about their private lives reported, but they were reported anyway because the media felt the stories were both newsworthy and relevant to the politicians’ jobs.

Or how about the fact that former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is Jewish. The Washington Post had no problem digging into Albright’s past and finding out something about her that even she was not aware: that her parents were Jewish. I am certain that in some circles that fact opens Albright up to a certain amount of scorn. But the Post didn’t bury the story, they printed it.

Once upon a time, it was dangerous for anyone to find out that you are gay in America. In many parts of the country, and many professions, that time has past. But, the danger still remains in some quarters and in some ways. Which brings us back to Aaron Schock.

One could argue that if Schock were to come out as gay, or be outed with definitive proof, it could hurt his political career in a party that is decidedly unfriendly to gay people, especially gay people in posts of party power.

Mitt Romney’s national security spokesman, for example, was forced out during the presidential campaign in 2012 when the religious right found out he was gay. And Schock isn’t just a congressman, he’s also reportedly considering a run for the Illinois governorship, which could lead to even greater things. The far-right that controls the Republican party isn’t terribly interested in greater things for homosexuals. They aren’t even interested in greater things for people who support gay people. In Illinois, the head of the Republican party recently lost his job simply because he supported gay marriage. Imagine were he to want a gay marriage for himself.

So that might argue for the need to protect Schock’s sexual orientation since, in fact, Schock might be harmed professionally by its revelation.

Aaron Schock is responsible for any harm his sexual orientation causes him

But here’s the rub. Aaron Schock shares blame for the danger posed to him by his own sexual orientation.

Ever since he was elected to Congress, Aaron Schock gladly partook in, and fed, the Republican party’s virulent homophobia:

Schock voted against adding sexual orientation to the already-existing hate crimes law.

law. Schock voted against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell .

. Schock opposes the repeal of DOMA .

. Schock is against gay marriage; and

and Schock is for the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would add language to the US Constitution banning gay marriage and likely striking down every gay rights law and ordinance in the country.

So to the degree that the Republican party, and Republican voters, would punish Aaron Schock were he to come out as openly gay, part of the blame for the GOP’s ire goes to Aaron Schock himself, who has been happy to feed the party’s culture of homophobia.

Suddenly, Aaron Schock becomes a bit less victim, and a bit more perp.

Aaron Schock happily bashes gays in Congress, but please don’t bash back

And what’s worse, Schock is happy to subject gays to his party’s anti-gay legislative animus: He was happy to kick gay and lesbian American service members out of the US military; he’s happy to let gays, lesbian, bisexual and trans people be fired from their jobs; and he’s happy to stop gay couples from getting married.

So Aaron Schock is happy to affirmatively harm people based on their sexual orientation, but expects people to not affirmatively harm him based on his sexual orientation.

Do unto others what you’d never have them do unto you, eh Aaron?

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Fun little bonus post. Of the 19 tweets favorited by Aaron Schock on Twitter, 3 are to this guy. He’s Schock’s most favorited Tweeter:

UPDATE: The trainer has now locked down his Twitter account so no one but people he permits can see it. This happened right after we noted the connection between him and Aaron Schock. This grows curiouser and curiouser.

UPDATE: The gay trainer’s Twitter account is now gone, it’s been deleted entirely.

This is what Court Anderson posted about Aaron Schock before he locked down his account. Of the 11 photos that Court Anderson posted on Twitter, guess who pops up? Aaron Schock. One of the other photos is of a really hot naked guy with a huge member, and not of the congressional kind. Here’s Anderson’s tweet about Schock that I grabbed before he locked the account:

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