The Rekers story that I blogged about yesterday is getting wide coverage, seeping into the mainstream media.  Leno apparently did a joke about it last night.

It's somewhat more than your run-of-the-mill conservative-christian-is-closeted-gay story.  Reker is a cofounder of the Family Research Council (along with James Dobson), and makes a living (through books, lectures, and testimonies to state congress) opposing gay marriage and gay adoption.  He considers homosexuality a curable disease.  Truth Wins Out gives the full background of Rekers to show that this is a BIG fish.

So when someone like Rekers goes away for a week overseas with a barely-legal gay prostitute whose services are listed at only one place — a gay Internet escort service called Rentboy.com (you can see the Rentboy profile picture here – it's safe-ish for work)….. it raises eyebrows.

For his part, Rekers has denied sexual involvement with the boy young prostitute, and told one blogger that "he seeks out folks like 'Lucien' in order to 'minister' to them."  That's possible, but it doesn't answer the issue of how they met:

For that, Rekers is sticking with this statement:

MISLEADING INTERNET REPORTS ABOUT PROFESSOR GEORGE REKERS A recent article in an alternative newspaper cleverly gave false impressions of inappropriate behavior because of its misleading innuendo, incorrectly implying that Professor George Rekers used the Rentboy website to hire a prostitute to accompany him on a recent trip. Contrary to Internet stories based on this slanderous article, following medical advice Professor George Rekers requires an assistant to lift his luggage in his travels because of an ongoing condition following surgery. His family, local friends, and even another university professor colleague have offered to accompany him on trips to assist him in his travel. Dr. Rekers found his recent travel assistant by interviewing acquaintances. There was nothing inappropriate with this relationship. Professor Rekers was not involved in any illegal or sexual behavior with his travel assistant.

Hmmm-mmm.  Too bad that the gay escort (named "Lucien") had a different story about how the two got connected:

Rekers wouldn't deny he met his slender, blond escort at Rentboy.com — which features homepage images of men in bondage and grainy videos of crotch-rubbing twinks — and Lucien confirmed it.

Meanwhile, the New Miami Times, which actually caught Rekers at the airport with "Lucien", released this photo of the two at the airport.

As you can see, Lucien is doing a heck of a job lifting the luggage for George Rekers.

The Family Research Council is silent so far on the issue, although there are reports that any reference to Rekers as being a co-founder has been purged. 

This story isn't going away, and it's unclear how long Rekers will weather it.  Like Ted Haggard a few years ago, we can expect more denials, and then a tear-filled confession of homosexuality.  3, 2, 1…..