Graham Platner, a populist Democrat running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), has apologized for a series of past social media posts that included homophobic language and anti-LGBTQ slurs.
A former Marine and Army veteran, Platner now works as an oyster farmer. The 41-year-old has gained support from the economically populist left for his calls to break up monopolies, curb billionaires’ influence on elections, raise taxes on the wealthy, close loopholes that let them pay less than middle-income earners, and crack down on union-busting.
But Platner has also angered Democratic Party insiders by criticizing their ties to big donors, supporting congressional term limits, and opposing U.S. funding for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Platner presents himself as a working-class everyman speaking for disillusioned voters. However, he has faced criticism for misogynistic and racially insensitive remarks, and for the skull-and-crossbones tattoo he got in Croatia in 2007 after a night of drinking, saying he didn’t realize it represented a Nazi symbol. He has since covered it up.
He now faces renewed scrutiny over homophobic Reddit posts from 2016 to 2021, according to The Advocate.
Speaking with the LGBTQ publication, Platner confirmed that the comments, posted under the handle “P-Hustle,” were his.
“I made a lot of comments over the years and talked a lot of shit on the internet,” Platner said in a Zoom interview with The Advocate‘s Christopher Wiggins. “I have no reason to doubt that at some point I used language that I would not be using today,” adding, “It’s indefensible.”
In a June 2016 Reddit thread about life on military guard duty, Platner, who left the Army in 2012, wrote: “Flog that fucker as often as possible … write gay poetry about how gay your current job is.”
In March 2018, Platner posted an explicit account of what he called a “gay off” between Marines and British sailors in Bahrain.
“Pull into Bahrain in ’07 on a MEU, a Royal Navy submarine happens to be in port at the same time. … Before we even realize what’s going on, the other weird bastard just leans down and licks the damn thing from the bottom of the ballsack all the way up to the top of the dick. Stands up, looks dead at us and yells ‘BEAT THAT!’ … I proudly withdrew our team on the grounds that one cannot play gay chicken if one is actually gay,” Platner wrote.
In August 2018, he used a homophobic slur during an argument with another Reddit user: “Betcha not a single downvoter is a real combat vet. Feel free to back it up with facts, f**s.”
“This was the gayest (not in the fun dick sucking way) thing I’ve ever seen. This dude is literally everything I hate all rolled into one,” Platner wrote in March 2020, insulting someone he disagreed with.
“I like how our gay antics make him so uncomfortable he hates us. I’m doubling down on gay chicken next time in honor of this Air Force pussy,” Platner wrote in June 2021 in a post about military “pranks.”
Platner told The Advocate he no longer uses anti-LGBTQ slurs like those in the posts.
“These were words that I used for a long time in ways that I did not take seriously,” he said. “I stopped using that specific kind of language a while ago…. Today I find that stuff abhorrent. And I am sorry that I ever used it.”
Platner said his change of heart came through friendships with LGBTQ people. While living in Washington, D.C., where he worked as a bartender, he had “a number” of “very close gay friends” and recalled attending “show tunes night” at the popular gay bar JR.’s.
After moving back to Maine, he befriended several transgender people, which he said deepened his understanding of the LGBTQ community and inspired him to speak in defense of pro-LGBTQ policies at a local school board meeting.
“Even though I thought I was open-minded, there were elements to their existence that I had been entirely unaware of,” Platner told The Advocate. “That was when I began to really take far more seriously the damaging nature of language, the damaging nature of even just discussing whether people exist or not.”
Asked whether voters should be skeptical of his judgment, Platner said the posts reflect his past, not his present worldview.
“I think we need a politics that is reflective of the fact that people can change and they can evolve,” he said. “I’m very proud of who I am now. I’m very proud of what I’ve become. I only got here because of the struggles along the journey, and I would just like people to judge me off of who I have become throughout all of this, not who I was at a darker point in my life.”
He said he would support pro-LGBTQ legislation if elected, vowing to “never vote for a piece of legislation that would treat LGBTQ Americans any differently than any other,” and to push back against what he called the U.S. Supreme Court’s ongoing assault on equality, including LGBTQ rights.
Platner, who says he never planned to run for public office, added that people who have made offensive or regrettable comments should be given the grace to learn and evolve.
“If we are going to just litigate every comment somebody makes on the internet, we will never have a politics that functions,” he said. “I think the important part is, is there a believable story of change?”
The controversies surrounding Platner highlight a broader challenge for Democrats: how to handle candidates who’ve made offensive or politically incorrect statements. The debate echoes larger questions about whether the party has gone too far in acting as moral scolds or in “canceling” people with views deemed “problematic.”
At the same time, it’s unclear whether the controversies have made a dent in Platner’s support, or whether Democratic voters are willing to overlook what would previously have been considered “red flags.”
According to a University of New Hampshire poll, conducted before and after news of Platner’s Reddit posts broke, the oyster farmer enjoys a 58%-24% edge among primary voters over Gov. Janet Mills, 77, who is the preferred candidate of Senate Democratic leaders.
But a conflicting poll by SoCal Strategies, released after the scandal, shows Mills with a five-point lead, 41%-36%, over Platner in an initial face-off. That lead balloons to 30 points, 59%-29%, after voters are informed of Platner’s Nazi tattoo, according to the poll.
The owners of Pink Pony, a new gay nightclub in Sydney, have apologized and vowed to change the club's name following backlash from the local LGBTQ community.
Kevin Du-Val and Michael Lewis — the owner and manager of the popular gay club Palms — had planned to open their new multi-level venue on Oxford Street, the main drag in Darlinghurst known for its vibrant LGBTQ nightlife, in early December.
But the club's name — which the owners said in a since-deleted social media post was "unashamedly inspired by its namesake song that resonates so profoundly within our community," referring to lesbian singer Chappell Roan's hit "Pink Pony Club" — sparked controversy after they described the type of patrons they hoped to attract, seemingly at the expense of others, according to 9News.
Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has pledged to make New York City a sanctuary city for transgender people.
In a new campaign ad honoring Latina trans activist Sylvia Rivera -- a pioneering figure in the early LGBTQ rights movement -- Mamdani sits at a desk near the Christopher Street Pier in Greenwich Village, recounting Rivera’s life and the pier’s significance as a haven for LGBTQ people in the city.
As photos and video clips of Rivera and other activists flash across the screen, Mamdani recounts her legacy of activism -- from her role in early gay and trans rights demonstrations to founding Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, which provided food and shelter for homeless trans people, and her push for LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination laws.
California State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), a gay lawmaker long targeted by the right for his progressive record on LGBTQ rights and criminal justice reform, is reportedly planning to run for U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) congressional seat in 2026, according to The San Francisco Standard.
At 85, Pelosi -- a two-time Speaker of the U.S. House -- has largely receded from the political spotlight, creating an opening for challengers in her heavily Democratic district. She has not yet said whether she plans to seek another term.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.