In a viral post, transgender author alleges anti-LGBTQ+ senator Lindsey Graham hired her for sex work

This story originally appeared on Them.

After longtime U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham died on Saturday night, reportedly from aortic dissection, the reaction from the LGBTQ+ community was immediate.

The South Carolina Republican had served in the U.S. Senate since 2003, spending his final years as a loyalist to President Donald Trump despite having run against him in the 2016 Republican primary. Throughout his tenure, Graham was a staunch opponent to the advancement of LGBTQ+ civil rights, opposing marriage equality; advocating against the 2011 repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a policy which required military service members to hide their sexuality; and voting against workplace discrimination protections. On transgender rights, specifically, Graham supported state-level bans on gender-affirming care for minors.

The bitter irony of this record is that Graham spent much of his political career denying rumors and speculation about his own sexual orientation — a task that became more difficult in the social media age.

Indeed, some young queer people weren’t made aware of the senator’s death via a push notification from a publication. Instead, a now-viral Instagram post from trans author and actress Jesse James Rose, in which she details an alleged experience of being paid by Graham for sex work prior to her gender transition, while she attended college, ended up inadvertently being the way many found out about the politician’s passing. The author attended New York University and holds a degree in Music Theatre and Child & Adolescent Mental Health Studies, according to her bio. Them has reached out to Rose for comment, and to Graham's Senate office separately.

“Most of you know him as the homophobic Senator from South Carolina but to me he will always be the man who paid a twinky pre-transition college student a fat stack of cash to do unspeakable things to him in a hotel room while he wore red lingerie,” the Sorry I Keep Crying During Sex author wrote in the three-slide post, accompanied by a hand raising emoji. “It is a canon trans event to have far right freaks bankrolling you & then turning around and voting against you.”

“People loooooove to judge us for it but I never see them opening their wallets!!! Shout out to s*x workers everywhere forced to humanize their enemies just to make rent,” she continued. “It is an absolute mindfvck too me that one of the reasons I have any semblance of financial security (& a lack of student loans) is because of this man.”

“At the time I had no idea who he was, and I only figured it out because another group or twinks leaked Lady G to the media,” Rose continued. “Some queer tried to grandstand critique this, saying we shouldn’t ‘out’ people. I believe bigots with power deserve no peace or privacy, especially when they hold public office. I’m glad they did it. Icons forever.”

Graham consistently denied being gay until the end of his life. When comedian Chelsea Handler made insinuations about his sexuality online in 2018, the Senator responded to the allegations, saying, “To the extent that it matters, I’m not gay.”

However, while Rose’s recent post following Graham’s death is one of the most direct instances of a queer person alleging that Graham had hired them for sex work, it isn’t the first. In 2020, porn performer Sean Harding posted online, implying that an unnamed Republican senator had hired multiple gay sex workers, including him. People connected the story to Graham based on the nickname “Lady G,” a codename sex workers in D.C. allegedly used to refer to the South Carolina legislator. The nickname followed Graham for what would turn out to be the final years of his life.

As recently as 2025, right-wing influencer and Trump ally Laura Loomer said that Graham was gay while testifying under oath for a deposition. “Several of President Trump’s staff have told me in confidence that Lindsey Graham is gay,” Loomer said during the deposition, which she later defended online, saying she did not want to perjure herself.

Despite these rumors, Graham maintained his anti-LGBTQ+ policy stances for the entirety of his political career. Additionally, he also aided in the creation and passage of SESTA/FOSTA, a set of laws passed under the Trump administration that attacked online sex work under the guise of fighting trafficking, while allegedly making the industry more dangerous for sex workers. Graham also sponsored the EARN IT Act in 2020, which further targeted online sex work.

“Lindsey, rest in hell for what you did to our community,” Rose’s post concluded. “I will continue to love queer and trans people harder than you ever hated us. You loved every second of our time together and now everyone knows.”

Many commenters thanked Rose for her vulnerability in calling out the perceived political hypocrisy of opposing LGBTQ+ and sex workers’ rights while allegedly leading a secret double life. Among the high-profile voices of support were actor Alyson Stoner, fellow author Max Delsohn, actress and Gaydar host Anania, and musician Ezra Deran Michel.

“Thank you for sharing,” one person wrote. “Important to call out the hypocrisy… especially when all they do is attack all of us.”

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