A North Dakota state representative says a Grindr user leaked nude pictures of him to the media in retaliation for his votes against gay rights, ending weeks of speculation in state political circles.
Representative Randy Boehning, a Republican who represents Fargo, told Fargo news site the Forum that he did indeed send photos, including one of his penis, to a man on Grindr who then leaked them to the media.
“The 1,000-pound gorilla has been lifted,” he told the Forum. “I have to confront it at some point.”
The outing was in apparent retribution for Boehning’s vote earlier this month against a bill that would have added sexual orientation to the state’s anti-discrimination law.
Dustin Smith, a 21-year-old from Bismarck, approached the Forum in early April with Grindr messages he said were sent from an account called Top Man! and which appeared to show Boehning.
“How can you discriminate against the person you’re trying to pick up?” Smith told the Forum.
Boehning first refused to comment on the photos, but last weekend confirmed Top Man! was his account.
“That’s what gay guys do on gay sites, don’t they?” Boehning said. “That’s how things happen on Grindr. It’s a gay chat site. It’s not the first thing you do on that site. That’s what we do, exchange pics on the site.”
Boehning told the Forum that many of his friends and family did not know he was attracted to men before Smith outed him. He says he is also attracted to women.
He said he voted against the anti-discrimination bill because it doesn’t fit with the state’s constitution, and would include protections for those “perceived” to be gay.
“This has been a challenge for me,” Boehning told the Forum. “You don’t tell everyone you’re going to vote one way and then switch your vote another way – you don’t have any credibility that way.”
This isn’t the first time Grindr has gotten an anti-gay politician in trouble: Puerto Rican senator Roberto Arango resigned in 2011 after explicit photos of him surfaced on the app.
