George Santos criticises same-sex marriage days after anniversary of his own same-sex wedding
George Santos has been expelled from US Congress. (Getty)
Disgraced Republican representative George Santos has criticised same-sex marriage on the anniversary of his own wedding, saying it “should have been a civil union.”
The first non-incumbent, openly gay Republican elected to the U.S Congress, Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives on 1 December following a string of charges against him – including wire fraud, money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit offences against the United States.
Now, Santos has hit out at the concept of same-sex marriage, claiming that he was against it – despite having a husband of his own.
“I was an opposer of gay marriage”, he told reporters when pressed on his relationships with more-conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives, Business Insider reported.
He got married “because that was the option” but he did not believe that it should be called “marriage”, the former congressman for New York said.
“I thought it should have been a civil union. It would have given us the same benefits, the same rights under the law.
“Making it marriage was never the business of the government. I’m not saying I oppose just gay marriage, I oppose marriage by the government in general.”
On 30 November, Santos celebrated his second anniversary with husband Matt, whom he described as his “partner in life” and “rock who has not skipped a beat over the past few months.”
On the same day, he wrote that the couple were “proud to show the world that being gay doesn’t necessarily make you blind to bad policy”, labelling themselves “proud conservatives [who] will buck the Gay Inc Mafia every time we have an opportunity”. Whatever that means…
Elsewhere, he expressed transphobic beliefs that there are only “two genders”, posing next to a sign that read “Trust The Science”, and attacked gender-affirming healthcare for trans people after Democrat senator Megan Hunt accused him of being transphobic.
Santos was expelled from Congress last week after fellow representatives voted 311 to 114 in favour of the move, after a report from the House Ethics Committee accused him of using campaign funds for luxury goods, Botox treatments, OnlyFans and trips to The Hamptons, the desirable New York resort on Long Island. He is only the sixth lawmaker in history to be removed from the lower chamber of congress.
During his political career, Santos claimed that he was Jewish and that his grandparents survived the Holocaust, that he worked for investment bankers Goldman Sachs and attended the prestigious Baruch College.
He is also quoted as saying four of his employees were murdered in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, and that his mother survived the 9/11 attacks.
All the claims proved to be untrue, with Santos notably telling pundit Piers Morgan that he’d been a “terrible liar on those subjects” when questioned about assertions he was a “Wall Street superstar”.
