Craigslist Transgender Scandal for Ex-Lawmaker

(NewsCore) - Chris Lee, the married New York congressman who resigned after allegedly seeking dates with women on Craigslist, also sought the company of transgender women, Gawker reported Friday.

Following Lee's resignation on Feb. 9, two Washington, D.C.-area transgender women contacted the media gossip website separately, alleging that they had exchanged emails with the two-term congressman.

One of the women, whom Gawker called "Fiona," said she replied to an ad in the "casual encounters" section of Craigslist in January. She said she emailed the link for the ad to herself and she forwarded a copy of the posting to Gawker. Craigslist personals are removed from the website within seven days of posting, so the ad no longer appears on the site.

"New to area," the alleged copy of Lee's ad on Gawker read. "Very fit classy, successful guy. 39, 6ft 190lbs, blond/blue. smooth hard body. Looking for a sexy ts/cd that i can spoil. I promise not to disappoint."

"Ts/cd" is an abbreviation for transsexual/crossdresser.

The language in the ad is similar to the wording he used in the correspondence with a Maryland woman that forced him to resign.

In that correspondence -- in which he responded to the woman who sought someone on Craigslist to prove that not all men on the site were "toads" -- Lee allegedly wrote, "Hi, Hope I'm not a toad :) i'm a very fit fun classy guy. Live in Cap Hill area. 6ft 190lbs blond/blue," he wrote. "39. Lobbyist. I promise not to disappoint."

Lee also sent Fiona what appears to be the same shirtless photograph of himself flexing in front of a mirror that he sent to the first woman; however, part of his face is cropped out of the version emailed to Fiona.

Fiona told the website that she'd corresponded with Lee several times over email and that he told her he'd previously dated a transsexual woman while attending college in California.

Fiona told Gawker that she discovered Lee's true identity after searching for his email address on Facebook. When she told Lee on Jan. 21 that she knew who he was, the congressman did not reply.

According to Gawker, Lee sent an email to his staff on Jan. 21, telling them his Gmail account may have been hacked.

Another woman, identified by the website as "Holly," works as a prostitute in Washington, D.C. She told Gawker a man using Lee's email address responded to an ad entitled "Trans for Men" that she had posted on Craigslist.

Holly did not provide evidence of her email correspondence with the congressman, but she sent the website an obscured photograph of a shirtless man resembling Lee. The man's face is covered with a black bar in the picture.

Neither woman provided copies of their email exchanges with the congressman to Gawker.

Lee, a Republican, has not commented on the initial reports of his Craigslist correspondence. His resignation came just hours after Gawker's report of his activities surfaced earlier this month, causing many at the time to question whether more serious indiscretions remained hidden.

"I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents. I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness," Lee said in a statement on Feb. 9.

Read more: Gawker