A Long Island Democrat running for Congress says he has no regrets about bondage-modeling photos from his past that were revealed by The Post last month.
Chris Gallant, 37, the Democratic nominee challenging Rep. Nick LaLota, a New York Republican, in the NY-01 district, told The New York Times that he posed for the provocative images nearly 17 years ago because he wanted to—not because anyone manipulated him. He also said he believed he looked good in the photos.
“I mean, all my friends know I’m kinky” as hell, Gallant told the newspaper, using a considerably more colorful word than “hell,” according to The Times.
He also joked, “I make Christian Grey look like amateur hour,” referring to the wealthy bondage enthusiast at the center of the “50 Shades of Grey” books and films.
The Post reported last month that Gallant had modeled for Mr. S Leather, a San Francisco retailer specializing in leather and bondage products. The images showed him wearing collars, leather straps and other gear.
Additional pictures of Gallant wearing Mr. S Leather products appeared to have been posted on gay pornography websites that do not appear to be affiliated with the retailer.
Gallant’s Los Angeles- and New York-based attorney, Sara Azari, told The Post in September that his limited arrangement with Mr. S Leather “was never intended to authorize unrestricted publication” by outside parties.
The photos have since been removed from the retailer’s website, though internet archives show that they were available online from 2011 through 2020.
“The photographs are authentic and were taken during a private, consensual photo session involving Chris and his then-partner, with whom he was in a committed four-year relationship,” Azari said.
She said Gallant was friends with the owner of Mr. S Leather and that the shoot was intended to be “fun and personal.” The understanding, she added, was that the company could use selected images alongside certain products. Azari maintained that the photographs “have no bearing on Chris’s record, qualifications, judgment, or ability to serve.”
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As Gallant began contemplating a career in public service, Azari said, he asked the company to stop using the images and remove them from its website. “Mr. S honored his request,” she said.
“I just thought, ‘If my family can accept me, the world can,’ and that’s how I lived my entire life,” Gallant told The Times.
Following The Post’s report, Gallant’s campaign released a social-media advertisement carrying the message, “Make Politics Sexy Again.” He also joked to The Times that the controversy might become his “Kim Kardashian moment.”
Still, Gallant said he never expected the old bondage photos to attract such widespread attention. “I mean, you had to go hunt for this,” he told the newspaper.
In a social-media statement after the report was published, Gallant called the disclosure “a coordinated political hit meant to drive me out of this race.” He added, “I am very proud of who I am.”
Gallant told The Times that the hardest part of his campaign had been building name recognition and trying to increase it.
“And there’s definitely been a name-recognition increase on the world stage,” he said, pointing out that “The Daily Show” had also covered the modeling photos.
On the late-night program, host Michael Kosta quipped: “New York, baby, where Democrat Chris Gallant is running to represent New York’s first congressional district, and he’s getting his ass beaten, but not in the polls.”
Gallant has served in the Army National Guard since 2006 and is a Black Hawk helicopter pilot, according to his LinkedIn profile—meaning he was likely serving during the period when he posed for the images.
The Long Island native is also a volunteer firefighter. Before entering the congressional race, he worked as an air traffic controller for the Federal Aviation Administration and served as a local union chapter leader with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
The Post reached out to Gallant’s campaign for comment.
