A North Dakota State Representative who
recently voted against an LGBT protections bill has been outed as gay
after he sent explicit messages on Grindr, a dating app for gay men.
Twenty-one-year-old Dustin Smith told
The
Forum that he recognized Republican Rep. Randy Boehning,
52, from a cover story on House lawmakers who voted against a measure
that sought to prohibit discrimination in employment based on sexual
orientation and gender identity.
Smith said that he realized that he had
been exchanging messages on Grindr with Boehning, who went by the
user name “Top Man!”
Smith said that Boehning had sent him
several pictures, including a picture of his penis.
“I was not, like, appalled, but …
it would [be] just like if someone was sitting in front of you and
decided to whip out their private parts. It's kind of rude,” he
said.
When confronted with the allegations,
Boehning initially refused to answer questions. However, on
Saturday, he confirmed that he was “Top Man!” and insisted that
he had done nothing wrong.
“That's what gay guys do on gay
sites, don't they?” he said. “That's how thing happen on Grindr.
It's a gay chat site. It's not the first thing you do on that site.
That's what we do, exchange pics on the site.”
Boehning also defended his “no”
vote, saying that the language of the anti-discrimination bill was
too broad and did not do enough to protect business owners.