In the wake of US Senator Lindsey Graham's passing on Saturday, July 11, transgender author and actress Jesse James Rose made explosive allegations about the late Republican politician in a series of social media posts.
In one post, Rose claimed Graham paid her for a hotel encounter more than a decade ago, when she was still a pre-transition college student.
Highlights
- Jesse James Rose made explosive allegations about the late Senator Lindsey Graham in a series of viral Instagram posts.
- The author and actress claimed the alleged “unspeakable” encounter happened years before Graham's passing in a hotel room.
- The South Carolina senator was a controversial figure among LGBTQ+ advocates because of his legislative record.
The widely reported allegations quickly spread across social media, where users debated both Jesse’s claims and Graham's long history of supporting legislation criticized by LGBTQ+ advocates.
One person reacted online, “Yep. NDA won't extend past d**th, will it? I imagine we'll see many many more stories like this in the coming days.”
Jesse James Rose alleged that Senator Lindsey Graham paid her for an “unspeakable” hotel encounter years before his passing
Image credits: jamesissmiling
Lindsey Graham was one of the Republican Party's most outspoken conservative voices on LGBTQ+ issues, with a legislative record that drew criticism from advocacy organizations over several decades.
During his time in Congress, Lindsey supported the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defined marriage under federal law as between one man and one woman.
He also backed a proposed constitutional amendment that sought to ban same-sex marriage nationwide and later voted against the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022.
Image credits: US Senate
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Reportedly, the South Carolina senator also opposed the repeal of the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy, which had prohibited openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people from serving in the U.S. armed forces.
In recent years, Graham voiced support for legislation restricting gender-affirming care for transgender minors and opposed several federal proposals expanding legal protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Following his passing from an aortic dissection caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, Jesse James Rose shared the allegations in a three-slide post published on her official Instagram account.
The author, whose memoir Sorry I Keep Crying During Sex was published last year, alleged that the “unspeakable” encounter with Lindsey took place when she was a college student.
“Most of you know him as the homophobic Senator from South Carolina, but to me he will always be the man who paid a pre-transition college student a fat stack of cash to do unspeakable things to him in a hotel room while he wore red lingerie,” she wrote.
According to Rose, she did not know the man's identity at the time and only connected the encounter to Graham years later after adult-film performers publicly circulated the senator's alleged “Lady G” nickname online.
Jesse alleged, “To me he will always be the man who paid… a fat stack of cash to do unspeakable things to him… while he wore red lingerie”
Image credits: jamesissmiling
Image credits: MichaelK7X3
She further claimed the money she allegedly received helped eliminate her student debt.
“It is an absolute mindf**k to me that one of the reasons I have any semblance of financial security (& a lack of student loans) is because of this man. At the time, I had no idea who he was.”
Jesse continued, “Some queers tried to grandstand critique this, saying we shouldn't ‘out’ people. I believe bigots with power deserve no peace or privacy, especially when they hold public office.”
She concluded the post by writing, “I will continue to love queer and trans people harder than you ever hated us. You loved every second of our time together and now everyone knows.”
Image credits: jamesissmiling
As her allegations rapidly spread online, Rose returned to Instagram on Tuesday, July 14, with a follow-up video captioned “Last I'll say on this,” in which she said she wanted to clarify her intentions after receiving widespread attention.
“Hi everyone! Coming to you in the aftermath of my last post about Lindsey Graham,” she began. “Processing this in real time so this feels weird.”
Jesse revealed that she had received numerous interview requests from media outlets but said she planned to decline them.
Instead, she encouraged journalists to focus on voices she believed deserved greater attention.
Image credits: The White House
“I have the privilege of this platform, and I said what I needed to say, but there are many other people that don't have the same privilege, and they need that media attention, and I don't.”
The author also argued that the discussion should not center solely on the senator's alleged private life.
“Story shouldn't just be that Lindsey Graham was a closeted senator,” she said. “He was also, in my opinion, more importantly, a war criminal...”
The South Carolina senator was a controversial figure among LGBTQ+ advocates because of his legislative record
Near the end of the video, Rose referenced her memoir, noting that while it does not include the alleged encounter involving Lindsey, it explores her experiences surviving s**ual violence and reflects on the risks faced by transgender people and s** workers.
“Protect trans people, protect s** workers,” she concluded before signing off.
As of this writing, the allegations remain unverified, and neither Graham's family nor his representatives have publicly commented on Jesse’s claims.
But the allegations were picked up not only by netizens but also by several influential community members, including LGBTQ+ content creator Justin, known online as @thewokeginger.
Justin shared a video reacting to the claims with the caption, “An explosive allegation is making the rounds following Senator Lindsey Graham's d**th.”
He continued, “A trans influencer publicly claims Graham secretly paid her for a s**ual encounter while spending years supporting policies widely criticized as harmful to LGBTQ+ people."
“The allegations have not been independently verified, but they've reignited a conversation about political hypocrisy, power, and accountability.”
Emphasizing the point, Justin added in the video, “I want to reiterate, these are allegations. No evidence has been put forward by her yet to collaborate what she's claiming.”
“Of course, if this is true, it wouldn't be surprising, as politicians often have double lives, condemning certain groups related to their political platform and then embracing them in the private,” he said.
“Some have suggested now that Graham has passed, NDAs are void, so it'll be interesting to see whether or not more people come forward and whether or not Rose's claims are substantiated.”
“I imagine we'll see many many more stories like this in the coming days,” one social media user wrote online
