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| 'Totally not gay' former Congressman Aaron Schock (second from left) living his best gay life at Coachella |
Two of the gays who posed for photos with 'totally not gay' former Congressman Aaron Schock at the Coachella Music Festival last week have posted an apology to the LGBTQ community for not knowing who he is and his impact on the LGBTQ community.
In a post on each of their Instagram accounts, William Rossi and Rob Masi say they had just met Schock on the day of the photo, and had no idea who he is or how horrible he's been to the LGBTQ community.
"In regards to the picture we took at Coachella, Rob and I have been out since we were 14 and 15, respectively; and living as proud gay men in a loving relationship, who hope to get married one day," they begin. "We are entirely against Aaron Schock’s values, views, and actions."
"We had just met Aaron on the day of the photo at Coachella, and before posting it, we were embarrassingly unaware of: who he was, his political views, and the extent of his negative impact on the LGBTQ community which we are proudly a part of," the couple continued.
The duo say the inclusion of Schock came about out of a desire to be 'polite' to a stranger, nothing more.
"Rob and I wanted to take a photo with our friends at Coachella, to celebrate our last day there," say the men. "Being polite, we allowed Aaron – who was basically a stranger to us and someone we just met – to include himself in our photo."
The couple made it clear that "if we had more knowledge of his beliefs and past actions," they would have never hung with him nor included him in their photo.
"We would not have allowed Aaron to join the photo, nor would we have associated with him if we had more knowledge of his beliefs and past actions," say the men from San Francisco. "For our own political ignorance, we are deeply sorry."
They also include a 'call to action,' if you will, encouraging Schock to come out.
"We hope Aaron does decide to come out publicly and live the gay life he so freely enjoyed at Coachella, the kind of life so many out and proud LGBTQ individuals have fought for and have made possible for younger gays like to live today," encouraged the men.
They also say, now that they are aware of his past anti-LGBTQ votes in Congress, that Schock should apologize to the tribe he now seems to want to be a part of.
"And we hope if or when Aaron does decide to come out and own his actions, he apologizes and makes amends with the LGBTQ community, because he certainly owes us one," they conclude.
Here's a photo of the two men, sans Schock, at Coachella.
