Andrew Gillum paid male escort multiple times for sex and passed out after having 'ecstasy-type' drug: Report
Former Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum had several liaisons with a male escort, it has been revealed and the episode had a big impact on his political career. According to a February 4 report in GQ, Gillum, who has been labeled as a “rising Democratic star”, was seen with a male sex worker in a Miami Beach hotel and on suspected drugs. It said that to keep their marriage together post that incident, Gillum and his wife Rashada Jai Howard had embraced a new dynamic of “radical honesty”.
Gillum, the 41-year-old former mayor of Tallahassee, reportedly paid Travis Dyson, the escort, multiple times for sexual encounters. GQ quoted Dyson as saying that Gillum passed out after taking “G”, an ecstasy-type drug that is often used by gay men to enhance sex drives and when taken in combination with alcohol, can have a knock-out effect. Dyson also said that he and Gillum took “G” and other drugs on several nights.
READ MORE
Democrat congresswoman accuses 'sex-starved' male colleagues of interfering in the abortion debate
Gillum ran for the gubernatorial election in the Sunshine State in 2018 but lost against incumbent GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, but not by a big margin. He met former President Barack Obama after the loss and told him that he was committed towards making Florida “available and winnable” for the Democratic nominee for president. Florida, however, has not gone to the blue party since the 2012 presidential election.
The Democrat told journalist Tamron Hall last year that Dyson was just his friend but the latter told GQ that they met on gay-dating app Grindr. The GQ report said that once Gillum came to learn that the men’s magazine had spoken to Dyson as well, he scrapped follow-up interviews that were scheduled and refused to respond to the latter’s version of events on the record.
Gillium identified himself as a bisexual
In his interview with Hall last September, Gillum conceded that he is a bisexual. “You didn't ask the question, you put it out there of whether I identify as gay. The answer is I don’t identify as gay but I do identify as bisexual," he said in the interview. "And that is something that I’ve never shared publicly before," he added.
Former Florida governor candidate Andrew Gillum tells Tamron Hall he's bisexual: "That is something I have never shared publicly before" pic.twitter.com/prUW7NPk1C
— The Recount (@therecount) September 14, 2020
“Even today, Black male bisexuality is predominantly discussed through the lens of “the down-low,” the stigmatized term for men who maintain a facade of heterosexuality while secretly sleeping with other men. It casts bisexuality as deceitful, even inherently shameful, which can, in turn, create a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy: When your identity is seen as false or deviant, keeping it to yourself can feel like the only safe option,” the GQ piece said.
Gillum, who according to the GQ report agreed with his wife that the Covid-19 pandemic saved their marriage, announced in March last year that he was entering an alcohol rehab facility. He said he had seen his father suffer from alcoholism and the effect it could have if untreated.