Ex-gay leader George Rekers' gay sex
scandal has leaked into the gubernatorial campaign of Florida
Attorney General Bill McCollum.
McCollum, considered the leading
candidate to capture the Republican nomination, personally urged the
state to hire Rekers at a cost of $120,000 to testify as an expert
witness in favor of a gay adoption ban.
Rekers of North Miami is the
61-year-old social conservative exposed by the Miami New Times
as having hired a male prostitute off the pageviews of gay website
Rentboy.com. The 20-year-old escort, named Lucien by the paper, but
whose real name is Jo-Vanni Roman, claims he provided Rekers with
daily body rubs in the nude during their 10-day European vacation,
adding that Rekers liked having his anus rubbed by the younger man.
In a 2007 letter to the Department of
Children and Families (DCF), McCollum urged then DCF Secretary Bob
Butterworth to hire Rekers because his legal team “strongly”
recommended him, according to the Florida Tribune.
“They believe that this expert and
his testimony are necessary to ensure a successful result in this
case,” he wrote.
The agency initially balked at the cost
of hiring Rekers, adding that one witness – Walter Schumm, a
professor of family studies at Kansas State University – would
suffice.
“Dr. Schumm is a good expert, but his
areas of expertise are different from Dr. Rekers,” wrote McCollum.
“Our attorneys handling this case have searched long and hard for
other expert witnesses with comparable expertise to Dr. Rekers and
have been unable to identify any who would be available for this
case.”
Rekers is a prominent ex-gay leader and
social conservative. He is a Baptist minister who sits on the board
of the National Association for Research & Therapy of
Homosexuality (NARTH), a group that believes gay men and lesbians can
– and should – alter their sexuality. He is also a founder of
the socially conservative Family Research Council headed by Tony
Perkins, an opponent of gay rights. And he's also the author of
numerous books on sexuality, including Growing Up Straight: What
Families Should Know About Homosexuality and Your Child's
Sexual Identity.
McCollum
has since reversed his opinion on Rekers, telling the Tribune
that he “wouldn't do it again.”
Since the original story broke, a
second gay escort has stepped forward to claim Rekers paid him for
gay sex. Former stripper, escort and adult star Carl Sheperd (Chaz)
alleges Rekers paid him $150 for “vanilla sex” at the Hyatt
Regency Hotel at Chicago's O'Hare airport in 1992.
Rekers originally told the Times
that he hired Roman to “lift his luggage” during the trip. He
has denied that he's engaged in “inappropriate behavior,” saying
on a Facebook posting that he hired his travel companion to privately
minister to him, and has threatened to sue the paper because “I am
not gay and never have been.”
Because gay men and lesbians have a
high incidence of substance abuse and depression, they are unable to
provide children a stable home,” Rekers testified in support of the
nation's only outright ban on gay adoption enacting during the
infamous Anita Bryant anti-gay crusades of the 70s.
The testimony, however, was found to be
not credible by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman, who called
the ban unconstitutional, the Miami Herald reported.
Lederman's ruling has been appealed to the Third District Court of
Appeals. A ruling is expected soon.