A new documentary featuring three men who allege that the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham paid them for sexual encounters has sparked a political controversy in the United States, nearly three months after the death of one of President Donald Trump's closest congressional allies.
One of the men claims he was just 17 when he met Graham in 2001 and alleges that the senator secretly recorded their encounter without his knowledge. The accusations emerged Thursday, less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, in which Graham's sister is running to retain his Senate seat in South Carolina.
The approximately 30-minute documentary, titled The CLOSETocracy, was released by The Young Turks, a U.S. progressive news network. The New York Times, which reported on the film, emphasized that it had not independently verified the identities of the three men or the accuracy of their allegations.
Graham, who served in the Senate for 23 years, died suddenly in July at the age of 71. His death means he cannot respond to the accusations, which have prompted sharply contrasting reactions within the Republican Party.
One man claims he was 17 and secretly filmed
One of the men featured in the documentary, identified only as Kelvin, alleges that Graham paid him for sex in 2001, when he was 17 years old.
According to Kelvin's account, the encounter took place at a residence in Arizona, where Graham allegedly paid him $120 and secretly recorded the sexual encounter.
No independently verified evidence has been presented establishing that the encounter occurred or that any such recording was made.
Another man, identified as Cory, described being collected by a chauffeured vehicle and driven to the Mayflower Hotel, an upscale hotel in Washington, D.C. He alleges that he was paid to spend the night and have sex with a man whose identity he did not recognize at the time.
Cory claims he realized the man was Graham only months later, when he saw the Republican senator on television during the 2016 presidential election campaign.
A third man appearing in the documentary also alleges that Graham paid him for sexual encounters.
A website created to promote the film, called the Lindsey Graham Files, displays documents and travel receipts that its creators say support the men's accounts. However, those materials have not independently established the truth of the allegations.
Allegations first surfaced in 2020
According to The New York Times, Cory previously appeared in adult entertainment productions under the name Sean Harding. In 2020, he published a social media post alleging that an unnamed Republican senator who opposed LGBTQ+ rights regularly paid men for sex.
In that post, he criticized the senator for supporting legislation he said harmed LGBTQ+ people and minority communities, and suggested that several sex workers could publicly identify the politician.
Lindsey Graham alongside President Donald Trump in South Carolina in 2023. The two became close political allies
(Photo: AFP)
Although he did not explicitly name Graham, he hinted that the senator's initials were LG.
Only after Graham's death did Cory and the two other men publicly identify him in the documentary.
The timing has become a central element of the controversy, particularly because the former senator is no longer alive to challenge the allegations or respond to the accounts.
Graham repeatedly denied rumors about his sexuality
Graham, one of Washington's most influential Republicans and a longtime ally of Trump, never married. Throughout his political career, he faced recurring speculation about his sexual orientation, which he repeatedly denied.
In a 2010 interview with The New York Times, Graham dismissed the rumors with a sarcastic remark about disappointing gay men who might have been interested in him. He concluded: "I ain't gay. Sorry."
The documentary focuses heavily on what its creators portray as a contradiction between Graham's alleged private conduct and his public positions on LGBTQ+ rights.
During his political career, Graham was a prominent opponent of same-sex marriage. He voted against repealing the U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which barred openly gay and lesbian Americans from serving in the armed forces.
He also opposed legislation aimed at expanding federal hate crime protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
The filmmakers argue that the allegations, if true, would expose a disparity between Graham's personal life and the conservative social policies he championed. The allegations themselves, however, remain unverified.
‘Everyone knew’: Marjorie Taylor Greene backs documentary's claims
The film's release triggered a wave of reactions from prominent conservative figures, though not all were critical of its creators.
Former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was once among Trump's most outspoken allies before falling out with him and leaving Congress earlier this year, publicly expressed support for the three men.
Former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who publicly supported the men making allegations against Graham
(Photo: Megan Varner/Reuters)
Greene described the allegations as one of Washington's worst-kept secrets and praised the men for coming forward with their accounts.
"We all knew Lindsey Graham was gay. Everyone did," she wrote on X. Her statement was an assertion about Graham's sexuality, not independent verification of the documentary's allegations.
Greene argued that the central issue was not Graham's sexual orientation but the possibility that powerful political figures might conceal information about their personal lives that could leave them vulnerable to pressure or manipulation.
She warned that such secrecy, in her view, could have implications for U.S. national security and the public's trust in its leaders.
Republicans dismiss claims as political attack
Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for the conservative organization Turning Point USA, also weighed in on the controversy, suggesting that speculation about Graham's sexuality was hardly new.
Referring to a derogatory nickname that had circulated about the senator online, Kolvet wrote that conservatives had been discussing the rumors for years.
"This isn't an October surprise," he said, arguing that the documentary was unlikely to damage the election prospects of Graham's sister. He also dismissed the controversy over the senator's private life as politically irrelevant.
Other Republicans were far more critical of the filmmakers.
Republican Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina, who regarded Graham as a longtime mentor and friend, condemned the release of the documentary and accused its creators of spreading "disgraceful lies" about someone who could no longer defend himself.
Timmons argued that Graham's decades of public service deserved greater respect and accused the filmmakers of resorting to homophobic attacks for political advantage.
He did not directly address the allegations about Graham's sexual orientation but said the effort to use claims about his private life against his family reflected poorly on those promoting the documentary.
Documentary released as Graham's sister fights for Senate seat
The documentary's publication has also raised questions about its political timing.
Graham died on July 11 after suffering an aortic dissection, a potentially fatal condition involving a tear in the wall of the body's main artery. Following his death, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed his sister, Darline Graham, to serve the remainder of his Senate term.
Republican Senator Darline Graham, Lindsey Graham's sister, who is running to retain his South Carolina Senate seat in the November midterm elections
(Photo: AP/ Allison Robbert)
Darline Graham subsequently secured the Republican nomination for the November 3 election and is facing Democratic candidate Annie Andrews in a closely contested race for the seat.
Her campaign has received the endorsement of President Trump, who maintained a close relationship with her late brother.
A spokesperson for Darline Graham's campaign declined to comment on the documentary.
Timmons predicted that Darline would win by a margin of 10 percentage points and argued that attempts to damage her campaign by publicizing allegations against her brother would ultimately prove counterproductive.
The late senator had been one of the Republican Party's most prominent foreign policy voices. Initially a fierce critic of Trump, he later became one of the president's closest allies in Congress.
Graham was also a strong supporter of Israel, advocated a confrontational approach toward Iran and was among the leading congressional supporters of U.S. assistance to Ukraine.
The film's release, so close to the midterm elections, has brought renewed scrutiny to Graham's political legacy and the unresolved allegations about his personal life. With the claims still uncorroborated and Graham no longer alive to answer them, the controversy now extends beyond the documentary itself to the political battle over the Senate seat he left behind.