A viral Instagram post by transgender author and actress Jesse James Rose has made an explosive and unverified allegation about the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, claiming he once hired her as a sex worker.
Rose, the author of the memoir Sorry I Keep Crying During Sex, shared her account following Graham’s sudden death on 11 July, aged 71.
Her post, titled “Eulogy for a Horny Hypocrite”, quickly spread across LGBTQIA+ social media. For some users, it was reportedly how they first learnt that the longtime South Carolina senator had died.
“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,” Rose wrote.
“It is a canon trans event to have far right freaks bankrolling you,” she continued, “then turning around and voting against you.”
“Shout out to s*x workers everywhere forced to humanize their enemies just to make rent.”
Rose’s allegations have not been independently verified. Graham is unable to respond, and his former Senate office had not publicly addressed the claims at the time of reporting.
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Graham’s record on LGBTQIA+ rights
Graham represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 2003 until his death. During the later years of his career, he became one of President Donald Trump’s most dependable congressional allies, despite having previously described Trump as unfit for office.
For many LGBTQIA+ Americans, Graham’s legacy is also defined by his long record of opposing queer and transgender rights.
He supported the 1996 Defence of Marriage Act, which defined marriage under federal law as a union between a man and a woman. He later backed an attempted constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage and opposed repealing the military’s discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
Graham also opposed federal workplace protections for LGBTQIA+ people and supported restrictions affecting transgender young people, including limits on gender-affirming healthcare and participation in school sports.
Rose presented her allegation as an example of what she described as hypocrisy: a politician privately seeking intimacy from a transgender person while publicly supporting policies that harmed transgender communities.
Years of speculation
The post comes after years of public speculation about Graham’s sexuality, which the senator repeatedly denied.
After comedian Chelsea Handler suggested in a 2018 social media post that he was gay, Graham responded: “To the extent that it matters, I’m not gay.”
In 2020, adult performer Sean Harding alleged online that an unnamed Republican senator had hired male sex workers. Harding did not identify the politician, although references to the initials “LG” and the nickname “Lady G” led some social media users to speculate that he was referring to Graham.
Those claims were never independently substantiated, and online speculation does not establish Graham’s sexual orientation or confirm that any encounter took place.
Rose, however, named Graham directly in her post and also referred to the “Lady G” nickname.
Her account remains an allegation from a single named source. No documentary evidence or independent witness has publicly corroborated it.
Post attracts widespread attention
Rose’s post received hundreds of thousands of likes and thousands of comments as it circulated through queer online communities.
Many commenters expressed surprise that they had first learnt of Graham’s death through the post, while others praised Rose for sharing her alleged experience.
“I am so glad this was the first post I saw today. The perfect eulogy,” one person wrote.
Another commented: “I love that I learned about his death from you. ❤️ thank you for sharing this story.”
“How very deeply iconic and punk as fuck ❤️,” another wrote.
Rose ended her post by condemning Graham’s political record and its effects on LGBTQIA+ people.
“Lindsey, rest in hell for what you did to our community.”
The allegation has now become part of the polarised online reaction to Graham’s death. However, its viral reach does not amount to verification, and the details of Rose’s claimed encounter remain unconfirmed.
