GOP Candidate Revealed to Be Former Female Impersonator at Gay Nightclub
A Republican candidate for North Carolina State Senate, and supporter of the state’s constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage, was revealed this week to have been a female impersonator at a gay nightclub about a decade ago.
Now a real state agent broker against two other GOP candidates in a conservative district, Steve Wiles was, according to old coworkers, Mona Sinclair at the Club Odyssey, a since-shuttered nightclub in Winston Salem. They say Wiles identified as gay at the time.
Wiles initially denied the claim, but has since made cryptic comments that did little to elucidate the matter, such as, “I have already apologized to the people who matter most to me for the things I did when I was young.”
However, in an interview with Business Insider, Wiles said he had moved on from the lifestyle, and believed the reports about him were the work of campaign opponents. He also drew a distinction between being against same-sex marriage and being anti-gay.
The then-owner of Club Odyssey said he had no doubt that the candidate was the man who worked as emcee during the club’s weekly shows featuring female impersinators. “I recognized his picture when I was looking in the paper, the owner said. “That’s definitely him. He has aged some, but that’s him. I have no ax to grind against him. I just think he’s a liar.”
Wiles’ campaign page, which he linked to through his Twitter account, has since been taken down.
[h/t Winston-Salem Journal]
[Image via Twitter]
