Why rumors about Lindsey Graham’s sexuality followed him for decades

Rumors about the late U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sexuality have circulated online for years. Snopes readers have long searched the website and emailed about it.

Graham, who died in July 2026, repeatedly dismissed allegations he was gay throughout his lifetime. Still, claims about his sexuality spread online via prominent voices. Critics of the late Republican from South Carolina pressed the issue in light of Graham’s consistent and public opposition to policies aimed at strengthening LGBTQ+ rights. 

A rumor that Graham hired male sex workers who supposedly nicknamed him “Lady G” was so widespread that the Washington Post ran an editorial about it in 2020. “Everybody knew that Lindsey Graham was gay,” said Hunter Biden, son of former President Joe Biden, in a July 22, 2026, appearance on “The Don Lemon Show.” 

Sexuality can be fluid and people’s own conceptions of their sexuality may change over time. It’s up to every individual to name their sexuality — no one else can do that. 

We have attempted to break down where the rumor about Graham being gay comes from and why it persists, including allegations that have circulated widely about his sex life. Several people have claimed to know Graham was privately gay or that he hired sex workers who were not straight, cisgender women. However, there’s no public evidence that proves these allegations. 

At least one widely circulated claim — a story about Graham supposedly hiring a male escort who said the senator had a series of moles on his anus and perineum that he referred to as “little ladybugs” — originated as satire.

Even if we had definitive proof that Graham had sexual or romantic encounters with men, we would not be able to determine whether he was sexually attracted to those men, nor would we know whether he was gay, bisexual, “experimenting” outside his sexual orientation or anything else about his sexuality without hearing the information directly from him.

Snopes is not in the business of outing anyone, including public officials, regardless of their stance on LGBTQ+ issues.

As fact checkers, we are attempting to set the record straight on what we know is true, false and undetermined about the rumors and to provide context about how and why they spread.

We reached out to Graham’s office to comment on the allegations mentioned in this report and are waiting to hear back. 

Here’s what we know:

Origin of claim

It is unclear where the rumors about Graham’s sexuality began. The earliest example we could find came from newspaper articles from 2001, which reported that Dick Harpootlian, former South Carolina Democratic Party chair, called Graham a “little too light in the loafers” to be a senator. 

Graham accused Harpootlian of slander for allegedly calling him gay; Harpootlian claimed he did not know the phrase “light in the loafers” refers to a gay person. 

An article from 2007 in the Charleston City Paper claimed rumors about Graham’s sexuality had circulated “for years.” 

Graham consistently denied the rumors to the media. See, for example, his comments in a 2010 New York Times article (emphasis ours): 

During a South Carolina Tea Party rally this spring, one speaker created an uproar by postulating that Graham supported a guest-worker program out of fear that the Democrats might otherwise expose his homosexuality. (Graham smirked when I brought this up. “Like maybe I’m having a clandestine affair with Ricky Martin,” he said. “I know it’s really gonna upset a lot of gay men — I’m sure hundreds of ’em are gonna be jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge — but I ain’t available. I ain’t gay. Sorry.”)

In 2018, Graham also told TMZ on video: “To the extent that it matters, I’m not gay.” He was responding to a post on Twitter (now X) from comedian Chelsea Handler that said, “If you’re wondering why Republicans took a sick day today, it’s probably because it’s #NationalComingOutDay. Looking at you @LindseyGrahamSC.” 

Handler is one of many comedians and other celebrities — see examples from Jon Stewart, Bill Maher and Patti LuPone — who frequently joked that the senator was a closeted gay man, fueling the rumors. 

Commentators also used rumors about Graham’s sexuality as an entry point for all kinds of discourse about queerness in American politics. For example, Graham’s death renewed conversations about whether it’s ethical to “out” a closeted conservative politician or homophobic to make jokes about Graham’s perceived “effeminate air.” 

For many of these commentators, whether or not Graham was gay is not necessarily the point — the point is how we talk about being gay. We mention this not to weigh in on the discourse, but to note another way the rumor may have spread in the American consciousness. 

Graham’s bachelorhood 

Part of the speculation about Graham’s sexuality also comes from the fact that he never married, although Politico reported in 2015 that Graham had two girlfriends and considered proposing marriage to a woman who was a flight attendant. 

According to People magazine, Graham wrote in a memoir that he attributed his bachelorhood to timing. 

“The opportunity never presented itself at the right time, or I never found time to meet the right girl, or the right girl was smart enough not to have time for me,” Graham reportedly said. (We were unable to obtain a copy of the memoir to verify the quote appears in it.)

News outlets have also said that according to Graham’s friends, his complicated family life contributed to his singledom. Graham’s parents both died by the time his sister, Darline, was 13, when Graham was in college. He returned home from school on the weekends to take care of her and later became her legal guardian. (Darline Graham was appointed to fill her brother’s seat after his death.)

Laura Loomer deposition

In July 2025, Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist and close ally of President Donald Trump, testified under oath that members of Trump’s staff told her Graham was gay. 

Here’s the transcript from her deposition, which was taken during her dismissed defamation lawsuit against comedian Bill Maher (pages 154 and 155):

ATTORNEY: Lindsey Graham also called you, “toxic” around the time that you were at the debate and —’

LOOMER: Yeah.

ATTORNEY: — right?

LOOMER: Yeah. That’s true.

ATTORNEY: Okay. And you responded to him on Twitter; right?

LOOMER: Yeah. I called him, “gay.”

ATTORNEY: Okay.

LOOMER: Several of President Trump’s staff have told me in confidence that — that Lindsey Graham is gay. 

ATTORNEY: Hold on. Ms. Loomer, there’s no question. 

LOOMER: I know. I’m just explaining —

[…]

ATTORNEY: And what is your basis for saying that he’s gay? 

LOOMER: It’s well-known. I mean, I know a lot of — I ran for Congress. Like I said, I’m very involved in Republican politics and know a lot of GOP fundraisers. And I know people who have told me that they’ve attended dinners where he’s brought male significant individuals with him — like, significant others. 

Although Loomer was not initially asked a specific question about Graham’s sexuality, she later said in an X post that she “was asked about Lindsey during my deposition so I had to tell the truth.” 

Depositions are given under penalty of perjury, meaning that if she knowingly lied, she could be subject to legal consequences. 

Sex worker, adult film star allegations 

At least three people have publicly alleged knowledge of Graham’s sexual activity with people who are not straight, cisgender women. 

In June 2020, a gay adult film actor, Sean Harding, wrote on Twitter: 

There is a homophobic republican senator who is no better than Trump who keeps passing legislation that is damaging to the lgbt and minority communities. Every sex worker I know has been hired by this man. Wondering if enough of us spoke out if that could get him out of office?

Underneath his initial post, he said, “If you’d be willing to stand with me against LG please let me know.” At the time, Graham was the only senator with those initials. 

While Harding later wrote that at least two people said they were willing to go public, no follow-up news stories have emerged from Harding’s call for testimonies as of this writing. Harding did not respond to a request to explain why he never moved forward with his efforts. 

In August 2026, a former sex worker named Taylor Snider told YouTuber Matt Cullen that Harding’s post inspired her to speak out about her own alleged experience with Graham as a client in 2015 (at 12:17).

Snider claimed, however, that she did not directly talk to Harding and decided not to move forward because an anonymous caller told her to “watch your back” (at 14:08).

It is worth noting that Snider, a trans woman, claimed she met Graham while presenting as a woman — meaning that Graham’s alleged attraction to her would not be inherently gay — and Snider herself did not accuse Graham of being gay, specifically.

“There were a handful of trans women that he was with, including me,” Snider claimed (at 9:45). “But for the most part, it was primarily gay men. People want to sit there and say, ‘Oh, Lindsey was gay, Lindsey was gay. No, Lindsey liked d***. That’s what it was.'” 

Snider later also spoke to Uncloseted Media, an LGBTQ+ investigative news outlet, whom she provided with additional information (archived), including screenshots allegedly showing a conversation between herself and Graham. The full interview with Snider and Uncloseted Media is also available on YouTube.

Snider told Uncloseted Media she tried and failed to get the surveillance footage from the hotel where she and Graham met but that she had an “ironclad timeline of the late senator being in D.C. at the exact same time as I was.” Snopes has reached out to Snider to ask for that timeline and will update this story if we hear back. 

Spencer Macnaughton, editor-in-chief of Uncloseted Media, said in a phone call that the outlet ran the allegations because of Graham’s promotion of anti-trans policies, particularly in his final years. He acknowledged that Uncloseted Media could not confirm Snider’s allegations.

“At the end of the day, it’s her word,” Macnaughton said.

Finally, almost immediately after Graham’s death in July, trans author and actress Jesse James Rose claimed in an Instagram post (archived) that when she was a college student, before her transition, Graham paid her “to do unspeakable things to him in a hotel room while he wore red lingerie.”

Satirical ‘ladybug’ claim 

After Graham’s death, social media users also widely circulated a blog post purportedly from a male sex worker detailing an encounter with Graham in 2013 that supposedly ended when Graham called moles around his anus and perineum “little ladybugs.” 

While many treated the post as truthful, the claim came from an account under the name Philip Huang that frequently posted obviously satirical stories such as “Study: Average American Already Dead from COVID” and “‘S***hole Top Baby Name of 2018.” 

According to a screenshot of a since-deleted post shared by TheSword, a gay adult lifestyle blog that debunked the “ladybugs” claim, Huang said he deleted the Medium blog post because he didn’t want to mess with the “credibility of the escorts preparing to come out about Lady G.” 

However, Snider alleged that the “ladybugs” were real during her interview with Cullen; she called them “skin tags” (at 10:05). Rose, similarly, replied to an Instagram post about the “ladybugs” and said they were real. 

(Instagram user @jamesissmiling)

Neither Snider nor Rose acknowledged that the original post was satire, and neither has responded to questions regarding whether they knew that. (In a follow-up post, Rose said she was planning to politely decline all media requests.)

It is, of course, possible that the satirical writer accidentally described physical features that Graham happened to have, or something similar, without having actual knowledge.

In sum …

Despite Graham’s own statements about his sexuality, rumors about it — some of which are obvious jokes or satirical in nature — followed him through life and death. 

The people who have publicly alleged to have information about Graham’s sex life have not provided documentation to prove their claims. That doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t true, just that there’s not enough information available for independent verification. Ultimately, the truth of Graham’s sexuality died with him.