OUTED: Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL)

Citing his recent vote against the repeal of DADT, noted outing blogger Mike Rogers has lowered the boom on Rep. Mark Kirk, the Illinois Republican currently running for Barack Obama's old Senate seat. Today Rogers blogs:

Within hours of the DADT repeal vote I was contacted by two people who knew Kirk from his college days. "In law school in DC everyone knew Mark was gay," the first source told me. I explained that the information was intriguing, it would not be enough to go on. He continued, "But I had sex with him a number of times." Well, now we're onto something I thought. "Could someone verify for me that you knew Kirk and went to school with him?" I asked. "Yes" was the swift reply. "Could you recall personal details about Kirk that others may not know?" "Yes," he said. And he did. The next source claimed to have gone to undergraduate school with Kirk. I asked for proof that he and Kirk were in school together and once that was shared with me, I met with the source. The source introduced me to a man whom had also been friends with Kirk college. They both shared with me their interactions with Kirk, including one sexual in nature. The source who claimed to have sex with Kirk described personal details about the House, um, er, "member." The description was the same as the first source.

Rogers goes on to recount having met Kirk personally at a 2004 party largely attended by gay men. It should be noted that Kirk has one of the more positive records on LGBT rights and recently earned an 88% score from the Human Rights Campaign. Last June he signed on as a House co-sponsor of ENDA.

Rogers has a 100% track record when it comes to these outings and played a large part in last year's feature documentary, Outrage.

RELATED: In late December, wingnut GOP Senate candidate Andy Martin also accused Kirk of being gay, but in a typically nasty fashion. Joining Martin's ugly campaign to out Kirk was arch-homophobe Peter LaBarbera.

UPDATE: Kirk had been claiming that he was the Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year for 1998. Last week the Washington Post revealed that was untrue and that a similar award had in fact been given to Kirk's entire unit. Kirk then said it was a mistake on the part of his biographer, but the below 2002 video shows him claiming such at a congressional hearing. Kirk's Democratic opponent, Alexi Giannoulias, has leapt upon the issue, accusing Kirk of "lying or embellishing his military record."