This New York pol has a secret BDSM past.<\/p>\n
Chris Gallant, 37, the Democratic nominee running against Long Island Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY)<\/a> was previously involved in a very different kind of campaign: selling toys as a model for a fetish sex shop, The Post can reveal.<\/p>\n Gallant appeared in multiple pics for \u201cMr. S Leather,\u201d a San Francisco-based purveyor of leather-daddy supplies, wearing collars, leather straps, neoprene, bondage gear, and more.<\/p>\n This photo of Gallant was posted in 2007 and shows him cosplaying the kids\u2019 show \u201cAvatar: The Last Airbender.\u201d Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n These images of Gallant are no longer on the store\u2019s site, but are still accessible in internet archives, which show they were online between 2011 and 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d Gallant\u2019s Los Angeles and New York-based attorney Sara Azari told The Post. <\/p>\n \u201cChris was also friends with the owner of Mr. S Leather, and the shoot was intended to be fun and personal, with the understanding that Mr. S could use select images in connection with certain products,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n Azari is a nationally known, high-powered attorney who deals with a lot of reputation and sexual misconduct cases, having represented disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.)<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAs Chris began considering a future in public service, he asked that the photographs no longer be used and that they be removed from the company\u2019s website. Mr. S honored his request,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n Other images of Gallant in Mr. S Leather gear appear to have shown up on gay porn sites that do not appear to be affiliated with \u201cMr. S Leather.\u201d But Azari explained that Gallant\u2019s limited understanding with \u201cMr. S Leather\u201d was \u201cnever intended to authorize unrestricted publication\u201d by third parties.<\/p>\n Facial recognition software matched the racy images \u2014 some of which depict hardcore sex \u2014 to Gallant. <\/p>\n Chris Gallant, 37, modeled BDSM gear in explicit ads, with pics circulating as late as 2020. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n Gallant is an Army National Guard pilot, former union leader, and firefighter, per his campaign website. Instagram\/@_gallantny<\/p>\n The images also show an identical blemish on his left temple and his distinctive earlobe shape.<\/p>\n A photo of a much younger Gallant during a 2007 appearance at a Fire Island LGBTQ festival shows him sporting a similar close-cropped haircut to those modeled in the fetish pics.<\/p>\n Some of the snaps depicted him in hardcore pornographic poses, including fully naked and having sex with another man.<\/p>\n Gallant posed with muzzles and blindfolds during the shagging. There\u2019s even a picture of him smiling in a cage.<\/p>\n Christopher Gallant modeling a black leather posture collar with a chain and padlock. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n Gallant, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot, has served in the Army National Guard since 2006, according to his LinkedIn profile \u2014 likely during the time he posed for the XXX-rated images.<\/p>\n He also serves as a volunteer firefighter and previously worked as a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic controller, where he had been a local union chapter leader in the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA).<\/p>\n A separate, though less erotic photo of Gallant at an \u201cInvasion of the Pines\u201d event, an annual LGBTQ tradition, in 2007 is available on Getty Images. His attorney confirmed it was captured years before the \u201cMr. S Leather\u201d photos.<\/p>\n \u201cHe will not allow photographs from a past relationship or employment to be distorted and weaponized for political purposes or used to distract voters from the issues that matter,\u201d Azari stressed.<\/p>\n \u201cThese photographs have no bearing on Chris\u2019s record, qualifications, judgment, or ability to serve,\u201d Azari went on. \u201cHe remains fully committed to his campaign and to earning the trust of the people he seeks to represent.\u201d<\/p>\n Christopher Gallant was pictured at the Invasion of the Pines event on Fire Island in 2007. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images<\/p>\n Gallant\u2019s race against LaLota in New York\u2019s 1st Congressional District is ranked \u201csolid\u201d Republican by the Cook Political Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n LaLota, a US Navy veteran, has held the seat since 2022, when he won the race to succeed now-EPA Commissioner Lee Zeldin. <\/p>\n