Aaron Schock is coming out as gay.
The former U.S. Representative, who served in office as a member of the House of Representatives from Illinois’s 18th district from 2009 to 2015 as a Republican, opened up in a note on Instagram on Thursday (March 5).
“I am gay. For those who know me and for many who only know of me, this will come as no surprise. For the past year, I have been working through a list of people who I felt should finally hear the news directly from me before I made a public statement,” he wrote.
He went on to write about his time in Congress, during which he eventually resigned amid scandal of allegedly using public and campaign funds for trips and events. He pled not guilty, and charges were eventually dropped. His campaign pled guilty to failing to properly report expenses.
Having controversially voted against marriage equality and lifting the ban on gays in the military despite rumors about his sexuality, Aaron opened up about his decisions at the time.
“Once in Congress, I did like I’d always done and threw myself into the distraction of work and what I once understood success to be. That included being responsive to the interests of the constituents in the distract that I served. Perhaps correctly, perhaps not, I assumed that revealing myself as their gay congressman would not go over well. I put my ambition over the truth, which not only hurt me, but others as well. I also, in retrospect, realize that I was jut looking for more excuses to buy time and avoid being the person I’ve always been,” he went on to say.
He also discussed pictures surfacing of him at Coachella, and his family’s negative reaction.
“Pictures online made it clear what I was enroute to tell my mother in person. She told me to turn around and go back to LA. I wasn’t welcome at home for Easter,” he wrote.
“What I had to share was unwelcome news to every single person in my family, out of the blue in some cases, and was met with sadness, disappointment, and unsympathetic citations to Scripture.”
“This journey has taught me a valuable lesson: that, whether you are gay or straight, it’s never too late to be authentic and true to yourself.”
Read Aaron Schock‘s full statement…
