‘A huge part of it — there’s a fantasy element of it…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Former Rep. Katie Hill, D-Calif., who resigned after it was discovered that she had a sexual relationship with a subordinate in violation of House ethics rules, blamed “biphobia” for pushing her out of office.
Hill told ABC News that she “made the right call” by stepping down from Congress, but claimed that the reaction to her alleged affair would not have been as negative if she was a straight man.
“The bisexuality is a huge part of it — there’s a fantasy element of it,” Hill said. “There’s biphobia that is rampant still, and certainly a misunderstanding of what bisexuality is.”
Hill once again denied that she engaged in a sexual relationship with a staffer while in office, but admitted she had an “inappropriate” relationship with a campaign staffer before being elected to Congress.
After she initially resigned from Congress, Hill said she was the victim of a “horrible smear campaign” coordinated by “the right-wig media and Republican opponents” and blasted the media publications that published the nude photos released by her ex-husband.
“Many people have nightmares in which they’re naked in public, trapped and trying to escape. In the days leading up to my resignation, my life was just like everyone’s worst nightmare. Millions of people had seen pictures of me naked,” Hill wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times.
Hill told ABC News that it was the circulation of those photos that compelled her to step down more than anything else.
Former Rep. Katie Hill breaks silence months after resigning from Congress in one-on-one with @ABC News’ @GStephanopoulos: “I made the right call.” https://t.co/Nkaau0xBSI pic.twitter.com/MJqSOwAFzg
— ABC News (@ABC) February 20, 2020
“I did not want to be a liability to my colleagues,” she said. “We knew from the people who had obtained the [explicit] photos that there were hundreds more images and text messages out there that I had no idea what they could be, or taken out of context.”