What happens at Coachella doesn’t stay at Coachella, to the likely disappointment of Keith Anthony, a gay West Hollywood fitness trainer and member of the city’s Business License Commission.
Anthony and his boyfriend, Tyler Tixier, were photographed hanging out at the desert music festival this past weekend with Aaron Schock, the former GOP congressman from Illinois who is infamous for his anti-gay voting record and alleged misuse of federal money.
Schock, who represented Illinois’ 18th District, resigned in March 2015 after he was accused of using campaign funds and office accounts to pay for lavish trips and events. He has been criticized by gay activists for voting against the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and against amending federal hate crimes laws to include crimes where the victims were targeted on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender
In a post on Facebook, James Duke Mason called out Schock for what Mason described as his hypocrisy for hanging out with other gay men, and being photographer making out with one of them, at Coachella.
“Normally I wouldn’t comment on something like this, but I am just infuriated by these images of former Republican (and anti-gay) Congressman Aaron Schock partying with a group of gay men at Coachella,” Mason wrote. “The fact that he would think he could show his face in public, particularly when he has NEVER renounced or apologized for his votes against gay marriage, gays in the military and against anti-discrimination laws is astounding. My intention isn’t to out him or target him personally, but simply to point out the hypocrisy. I saw him at a recent gay social event in West Hollywood and shook his hand before I realized who he was; he should really be ashamed of himself. And the gays who associate with him without calling him out should know better. It really is a disgrace.”
Mason posted the photo of the shirtless Anthony with the shirtless Schock and other gay men on his Facebook page. City Councilmember John Duran, who had appointed Anthony to the Historic Preservation Commission (where he no longer serves) and the Business License Conmission, expressed his own surprise at Anthony’s interaction with Schock. “What the hell????” his post read (it since has been removed.)
Schock’s gay adventure at Coachella also caught the attention of Queerty, the national gay website, which cited Mason’s Facebook post, as did TowleRoad and GregInHollywood, two other popular sites.
WEHOville has reached out to Anthony but as yet hasn’t gotten a response.
How do we know for sure that Aaron Schock is in the photos?
Again I guess people like to hide behind pusedonyms and aliases ( Get Real) how about get a reality check to hyprocrite behavior that people are authentically speaking about. This man spent money and funds and abused his office for not only political but financial gain. The American public paid for his soirées and first class flights to places to possibly engage in a sexual lifestyle that he was talking and voting against! Like a lawmaker Making sodomy a basis against family values all the while he is engaging in it. Wonder what all the 5 of them in the… Read more »
I’m accepting that this actually IS Aaron Schock in this pic and the video, but it doesn’t look like him to me. It only just occurred to me that maybe it’s NOT him! Who has confirmed this?
I just found Queerty Newsletter where these pics and story are also running and they don’t identify him either but say it is ALLEGEDLY Aaron Schock.
Wouldn’t it be funny if after ALL THIS TALK it turns out that Aaron Schock was home with the flu during Coachella?
It is Aaron. You really are going out of your way to defend this guy aren’t you?
I haven’t said a thing in defense of him, weho adjacent, as I know very little about him, other than that he is strikingly handsome. I do know, however, that when anyone wanders off the reservation and is not giving 100% allegiance to whatever tribe they are supposed to be a part of there is hell to pay. I don’t know that what I’m hearing about him is true, or if there is not more to the story that isn’t being told. When Queerty Newsletter qualifies his identity as ALLEGEDLY I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask who has confirmed… Read more »
Shame on https://www.facebook.com/tyler.tixier Tyler Tixier and his gym bunny boyfriend Keith Anthony for hanging with homophobic politician Aaron Schock. Schock tried to kill any pro-gay legistlation in DC while himself being a closeted homophobic mess. Looks like Tyler Tixier and Keith Anthony only care about what people look like on the OUTSIDE. This is why Weho has such a bad rep: shallow narcissists who care little for politics.
People are shallow and self-absorbed, who only care about dollar bills, parties, and living the bougieous ligestyle! Why do you think West Hollywood has all gay cliques trying to go to and get into the parties and select venues to be seen or flaunt their posse at photo opp events! The “it crowd”and velvet rope is more secretive and notorious for being restrictive than Hollywood itself. The blending of entertainment crowd and a selective few gay power players never care about those that struggle to keep West Hollywood liveable or affordable and remain here. Most would laugh and replace you.… Read more »
Talk about West Hollywood being the center for reactionaries. Does anyone even know the backstory? The two guys in the photo probably didn’t know who Aaron Schock was. Or if he mentioned his name, I would say like 99.99% of the people in California wouldn’t know who you were talking about. The only Congress members we know about is someone like that woman from New Jersey who wants to eliminate planes in 10 years, killing millions of jobs, and replacing airlines with a universal high-speed rail system like Governor Jerry Brown tried in California that cost $295 million a mile… Read more »
Aaron, compared to the majority of congress, was a standout when it came to looks. You would never look at him and say “Washington is ugly Hollywood.” Plus, it was obvious he was gay when he took another hot number as his personal photograher to India. And his offices were done in Downton Abbey interiors. Now it appears Aaron’s out. A convert from some group of bible thumping right-wing Christers, as Madalyn Murray O’Hara called them, to a very hot looking number trying to find himself, in America or what Gore Vidal callaed: “A collection of superstitious immigrants!” So let… Read more »
Aaron is so hott!! I’m glad he came out.
He didn’t come out that is the point!
Making out with a man in front of thousands of people isn’t coming out?
Does he need to release a press statement?
That’s the whole point of this article. He DOES need to release a press statement that acknowledges how he has hurt the community he is trying to become a part of. The lack of acknowledgement keeps him trapped in the hypocrisy. People evolve and there is room for forgiveness, but he does indeed need to make amends. Too many young LGBTQ youth kill themselves because of political agendas like his. Perhaps he has explained his history with the guys in the picture, so let’s not be so quick to cast judgment on them until we know the real story. As… Read more »
Tut, tut, tut. Tsk, tsk. Never heard of any of these guys. IRRELEVANT.
I live in his district, and we call this a Tuesday. quite honestly it is hard to remember some times that he is in the closet (there is A LOT more then a single photo; but I’m not about to out anyone as having been with Schock, that would just be too cruel). we are also very red and corrupt, and not normal every day boring corruption either, it goes to a cartoonish level (city credit cards used at casinos, caught with cycloptic sex workers etc.) but as long as they do as they are told their is a golden… Read more »
I laugh out loud everytime I read the words Republican and gay. Too many of them, like Caitlyn Jenner, are under the delusion that the members of their party actually care about them. They’d turn on you and dispossess you of everything you own if it were not for gay activists and allies fighting bad laws in the courts.
You get to be married, make decisions for your spouse and enjoy federal tax benefits because of it. Wake up people defend someone worthy of defending. This guy is no friend to the gay community or himself.
Both parties are a scam, a racket. And they trap you into one of them. Most Republicans are actually for gay rights but we don’t hear that in the mainstream media because it’s politcal theatre to get votes. I’m not into extreme abortion or socialism which is what the Democrat party is becoming. I believe in LEGAL immigration even if it’s the USA that’s causing some of the refugee problem. I believe in BigGovt corrupt Big Daddy getting the heck out of our lives. Don’t tell me what I can do with my life, what medicines to put in them… Read more »
“extreme abortion” Yes I think we can agree you have been brainwashed. “Most Republicans are actually for gay rights but we don’t hear that in the mainstream media because it’s politcal theatre to get votes.” This simply has not been true for the past 2 decades. Look at almost every republican candidate for president and you will see. And we come as a group- LGBTQ not just gay men/women. A current REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT is trying to strip transgender folks of their rights to serve in the military. Not sure why i’m even trying to explain anything to you considering your… Read more »
Actually that’s not true at all. Opinion polls show that, overall nationwide, less than 50% of Republicans support most gay rights issues. In addition, polls show that support for gay rights has actually gone DOWN significantly in the last four years among young Republicans (the one group of Republicans among which a majority DO support gay rights). And even if a majority of Republicans said they personally supported gay rights, they continue to elect representatives who do NOT support them, and who pass laws restricting gay rights. Saying “most Republicans are actually for gay rights” is just deluded and wrong… Read more »
@James, the person you’re replying to doesn’t believe in vaccines.
All white gay men look exactly a like
exactly
The guy is entitled to be part of the LGBT community without being harassed.. he is entitled to go to Coachella.. Duke Mason takes donations from the Beverly Hills Hotel during his campaign and they are anti-gay and he is the pot calling the kettle black.
who is harassing him? Do you have evidence?
No, he is not. No one is begrudging the fact that he was in the closet for years and constantly denied he was gay. I’m glad he is finally out. What people are upset about is that in his entire tenure as a state rep, he did everythign he could to vote against gay rights and gay marriage. There are many straight Republicans who have more pro-gay views than he does!! And now he wants to immerse himself into the gay community? He’s like the person who shows up at a potluck dinner empty handed but then eats everything on… Read more »
He spent the majority of his time as a state rep fighting AGAINST gay rights and now wants to be part of the community? Doesnt work that way.
Larry’s gratuitous comment about the donations is off topic and only serves to spread disinformation and confusion about the boycott. The hardworking employees at the Beverly Hills Hotel are not anti-gay, its owner, the Sultan of Brunei, is anti-gay. The boycott is against the Beverly Hills Hotel (actually the Dorchester Collection of hotels, which includes both Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air) because of its owner’s actions in Brunei. The idea being we don’t want to line the pockets of someone who would stone us for being gay or committing adultery – it has nothing to do with the Hotel’s… Read more »
Seems like Miss Schock’s pr and crisis management team is out in full force today trying to distract. Good luck with that one. Her inner demons are struggling to be free.