Though he paid millions to keep a man quiet about the nature of their relationship, former House speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) was a reliable opponent of gay civil rights during his tenure in Congress.
On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted Hastert, alleging that he agreed to pay a man $3.5 million over several years in exchange for the latter’s silence about his prior relationship with the lawmaker, the Associated Press reports. According to the indictment, Hastert gave $1.7 million to the man between 2010 and 2014, who Hastert knew from his past career as a high school teacher and wrestling coach, as compensation for Hastert’s “past misconduct,” and for said misconduct’s concealment.
Although the indictment provides little information about the nature of that misconduct, the Los Angeles Times, citing law enforcement sources, reports that Hastert was paying to cover up sexual indiscretions with a a person of the same gender he knew from coaching youth wrestling.
“I felt a special bond with our wrestlers,” Hastert wrote in his 2004 memoir. “And I think they felt one with me.”
Hastert would be only the latest conservative Christian political figure to be revealed as engaging in a homosexual lifestyle he demonized as a lawmaker. His record fighting against gay rights is lengthy and rich.
