Gay Army Black Hawk pilot Chris Gallant won’t let old fetish photos define his run for Congress

When the photographs resurfaced, Chris Gallant paced. The Army Black Hawk pilot, volunteer firefighter, and former air traffic controller from New York had built his congressional campaign around a lifetime of being useful. Now, images from his past threatened to become the only thing strangers knew about him.“When this whole thing first dropped though, my heart sank,” he tells The Advocate.He contacted people. He assembled a team. He talked through what to do. Then he concluded that, as he describes it, would turn an attempted humiliation into a declaration of self-possession.“I am going to be who I am. I’m not ashamed of who I am,” he says.Related: Gay congressional candidate Chris Gallant won’t be shamed out of midterm race over BDSM photosGallant, 37, is the Democrat challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota in New York’s 1st Congressional District on Long Island. His campaign has become a test of whether an out gay candidate can bring his whole life into public service without allowing his sexuality to swallow everything else he has done. Chris Gallant for CongressAs The Advocate reported in September, the New York Post published old photographs of Gallant modeling for fetish retailer Mr. S Leather. His attorney said the shoot involved his then-partner, that selected images had been authorized for product promotion, and that the retailer later honored his request to remove them. Gallant publicly refused to abandon the race.That defiance has a quieter foundation. He spent years finding communities where people depended on him and accepted him.As a child, he wanted to join the fire department. As a volunteer, he found a place where people with different trades helped one another, friendships lasted, and service created a second family.“It’s a community,” he says.The military offered another. He enlisted as a teenager, drawn toward service in the years after September 11. He trained as an Army air traffic controller, studied the field in col