Gay Senate staffer loses job after allegedly having sex in hearing room
A gay congressional staffer has been fired after he was accused of appearing in a video that allegedly showed two men having sex in a Senate hearing room.
The footage, which was obtained and published by right-wing media outlet the Daily Caller on Friday (15 December), appeared to show two unidentified men having sex on a dias – where lawmakers typically sit when conducting official business – of the Senate hearing room.
The Daily Caller claimed the explicit footage was “shared in a private group for gay men in politics”.
PinkNews has not independently authenticated the footage.
Following the story, the US Capitol police said they were aware of the matter and were looking into it.
Who is alleged ‘gay Senate staffer’ Aidan Maese-Czeropski?
Conservative media outlets later alleged Aidan Maese-Czeropski, who had been working as an aide for Maryland senator Ben Cardin, was one of the men in the leaked footage.
Cardin’s office announced on Saturday (16 December) that they had parted ways with Maese-Czeropski.
“Aidan Maese-Czeropski is no longer employed by the US Senate,” the Maryland Democrat’s office said in a statement to Politico.
“We will have no further comment on this personnel matter.”
In a LinkedIn post on Friday, Maese-Czeropski did not address the video directly but said he was going through a “difficult time”, claiming he’s been “attacked for who [he loves] to pursue a political agenda”.
“While some of my actions in the past have shown poor judgement, I love my job and would never disrespect my workplace,” he wrote.
“Any attempts to characterise my actions otherwise are fabricated, and I will be exploring what legal options are available to me in these matters.”
According to his LinkedIn, Maese-Czeropski has been working for Cardin since 2021 in a variety of roles, including staff assistant, foreign policy legislative aide and finally legislative aide.
He also interned for the late senator Dianne Feinstein in 2018.
Before announcing that the gay Senate staffer had been fired, Cardin’s office acknowledged seeing the media reports about the sex video. However, the office did not wish to comment any further as it was a “personal matter and under review”.
