Laura Loomer, the far-right influencer with close ties to President Donald Trump, claimed during a deposition in her defamation lawsuit against HBO that sources close to the former president told her U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is gay.
Loomer is suing the network over comments by comedian Bill Maher, host of Real Time with Bill Maher, who joked that she had an affair with Trump. She alleges Maher’s on-air remark about her “sleeping with Trump” — echoing a rumor circulating at the time — cost her a job in the Trump administration and the political influence that would have come with it. HBO has argued that Maher’s comment is protected under the First Amendment, just as Loomer’s own inflammatory remarks are shielded when she targets her political enemies.
As part of the discovery process, HBO’s lawyers have been allowed to question Loomer about some of her more inflammatory comments. While such depositions are usually kept under seal, this one was briefly made public on a court docket before being sealed again — giving the media a treasure trove of Loomer’s attacks on figures she deems insufficiently loyal to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda.
During questioning, HBO attorney Katherine Bolger brought up the 32-year-old Loomer’s past X posts speculating about Graham’s sexuality, including one where she wrote, “When is Lindsey coming out of the closet? We all you know you’re gay, Lindsey. And that’s OK. It’s 2024. There’s nothing wrong with gay people.”
She added in another post: “There’s no reason why Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, needs to hide the fact that he’s a gay man. Come on, Lindsey. I like men too. No need to hide. I want you to relieve yourself of your toxic closeted anger. It’s 2024. Nobody needs to hide that they’re gay anymore.”
Pressed by Bolger about those comments during the deposition, Loomer replied, “I called him ‘gay.’ It’s well-known. Several of President Trump’s staff have told me in confidence that — that Lindsey Graham is gay.”
Bolger tried to move on. “Hold on Ms. Loomer, there’s no question,” she said. But Loomer continued, “I know. I’m just explaining.” She added that Republican insiders had told her they’d seen Graham bring male companions to dinners, and noted: “I will say that he never denied being gay after I said that.”
Bolger noted that she had not asked Loomer to explain the accusation, and Loomer’s attorney, Larry Klayman, objected to the topic being further discussed.
Graham, who has never married, has long been the subject of gay rumors. In 2020, gay adult film star Sean Harding alleged that Graham had hired multiple D.C.-based male escorts for sexual encounters, claims that were never substantiated but that sparked the hashtags #LadyGraham and #LadyG to trend on social media. Graham, a Southern Baptist who previously sought the Republican presidential nomination, has repeatedly denied being gay.
After snippets of Loomer’s testimony were made public and shared on social media, she posted to X: “I was asked about Lindsey during my deposition so I had to tell the truth. I was under oath.”
The deposition also delved into some of Loomer’s other controversial remarks. For instance, Bolger raised a similar attack by Loomer on former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, husband of former Vice President Kamala Harris, in which she attacked Emhoff for being insufficiently masculine.
“If you call yourself, ‘Second Gentleman,’ you’re just gay,” Loomer wrote. “Men aren’t supposed to be second to women. It’s called biological hierarchy, and we should respect it. There’s a reason why she tells him to ‘answer your effing phone.’ She has no respect for him because he’s lowered himself into being a loser.”
Asked if she had any reason to think Emhoff was gay, Loomer reportedly clarified that she did not mean he was a homosexual.
“‘Gay’ can mean either homosexual, or it can also just mean weak,” Loomer said. “And I do believe that he’s a weak man.”
Asked about a crude attack on U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — where she claimed Greene had “Arby’s in her pants” — Loomer was pressed to explain what she meant.
Several online sleuths suggested the phrase implied Greene’s vagina resembled roast beef, a term often used to insinuate promiscuity. But under oath, Loomer denied it was sexual in nature.
“Can you tell me why you were talking about ‘the Arby’s in her pants?'” Bolger asked.
“Well, it’s just an expression,” Loomer responded.
“What is the expression trying to convey?” Bolger pressed.
Loomer said it “conveys the reason why she got a divorce by her own admission.”
“Because she had roast beef in her pants? … You’re literally saying she put Arby’s in her pants?” Bolger asked.
Replied Loomer, “I’m saying she literally put Arby’s in her pants. Yes.”
Grindr, the gay hookup app for men seeking sex with men, reportedly prevents users from adding "no Zionists" to their profile.
404 Media first reported that several users who tried to add "no Zionists" to their profiles were blocked from doing so. Those users were likely signaling opposition to Israel's military campaign in Gaza or expressing support for the Palestinian cause.
When 404 Media reporter Samantha Cole tried adding "No Zionists" to a new Grindr account, she received an error message reading, "The following are not allowed: no zionist, no zionists" -- the same message reported by users who had tipped her off.
I first saw Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain in 2005, at a three-screen, not-for-profit cinema in suburban Washington state. I went with my then-boyfriend, and for the next two hours and fourteen minutes, I wept silently next to him.
At 16, I came into political consciousness as the second Bush administration fought to maintain a conservative bulwark against progress by endorsing a constitutional amendment defining marriage in strictly heterosexual terms. While I was out, I felt righteously angry that others felt I should hide who I knew myself to be.
Twenty years after the film's release, Brokeback Mountain returned to theaters. The end of June also marked a decade of nationwide marriage equality thanks to Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Supreme Court granted homosexual couples the "equal dignity" afforded to our heterosexual counterparts. Today, I go to the movies with my husband. And sitting in the cool, dark of the cinema last week, I reflected on the ways Brokeback Mountain helped change the national discourse and still resonates in deep, meaningful ways for people across the country.
Chris Kostka, a gay man visiting Provincetown, Massachusetts, was walking along Bradford Street between 1 and 2 a.m. on Monday, June 30, when, near Howland Street at the town’s eastern end, three men shoved him to the pavement and began kicking him while yelling anti-gay slurs.
"All of a sudden I just feel myself getting pushed to the ground," Kostka told Boston NBC affiliate WBTS-CD. "I fly forward and I turn. I see three guys, and of course, I'm stunned from just being thrown to the pavement, and I just cover my face, go into a fetal position as I'm getting kicked and getting called some gay slurs."
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