It’s been a month or two since we had a good political sex scandal. But you didn’t think those politicos had cleaned up their act or learned what a terrible idea it is to text/email flirt and/or take sexy photos of yourself, did you? Of course not! The latest scandalize involves Roberto Arango, a conservative politician in Puerto Rico. He has resigned from his territory’s Senate after some images that look an awful lot like him appeared on Grindr, the notorious gay cruising app. One of the images shows a man sans shirt, wearing a necklace that Arango has been photographed with. Another would make Anthony Weiner blush. It shows a man naked and on all fours, taken in a mirror from behind. Arango has not said the images are of him, but he has stepped down from his post with this oddly Weinerian sorta-denial:“You know I’ve been losing weight. As I shed that weight, I’ve been taking pictures,” he said. “I don’t remember taking this particular picture but I’m not gonna say I didn’t take it. I’d tell you if I remembered taking the picture but I don’t.” I really wish he’d gone for more of a flat out, “Ain’t me!” Because something tells me you remember getting down on all fours and snapping a photo of yourself.
If the images do turn out to be of Arango, I think we have a classic case of self-hatred on our hands — Arango has voted for blocking same-sex marriages in Puerto Rico and against adoption rights for gay parents.