Sam Brinton
In January, the Biden Administration offered Sam Brinton a post at the Department of Energy as Deputy Assistant Secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition in the departments Office of Nuclear Energy. A graduate of MIT with a Dual Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering, Technology and Policy, Brinton, on the surface, is more than qualified for the position. He’s spent his career, according to LinkedIn, on nuclear waste management. As a “Clean Energy Fellow” at Third Way, he states, “I concentrated on a year-long project near and dear to my heart: advanced nuclear energy innovation policy. From advanced nuclear reactor technical guides for Congress to education on nuclear waste storage options, I brought a fresh perspective on licensing, investment strategies, and policy improvements in the field of nuclear innovation.” Brinton also spent several years as a policy consultant related to “socio-technical” issues ranging from “nuclear waste management to advanced nuclear reactor innovation and nuclear non-proliferation policy.” These are valuable contributions to the field of nuclear energy especially ensuring nuclear power safety.
Brinton also is an LGBTQ activist and has spent most of his life advocating against LGBTQ youth conversion therapy. While at The Trevor Project, Brinton was the Head of Advocacy ensuring the organization “is advancing policies and positions that help LGBTQ youth in crisis”, and “the mental health and suicide prevention space.”
Brinton also identifies as a non-binary, queer, drag queen, and prefers the pronouns they/them. Identifying yourself is the new normal under the Biden Administration, of course. Reading about this person is pure mental gymnastics. Every article uses the “they/them” pronouns and it confuses the hell out of your mind! That aside, it’s becoming more socially prevalent in society to have highly qualified American’s being of some other gender that they identify with and present themselves as such. Pictures of Brinton clearly illustrate his gender identification. However, there are pictures from a 2016 news article in Metro Weekly of Brinton advertising his sexual preferences in BDSM and “kink”. The “kink” he advocates and participates in is Puppy Love – a leather subset fetish grown out of the BDSM community where the “sub” is dressed in leather and acts like a puppy, and the handler is the “dom” barking commands to their puppy much like any normal dog handler. In that article about this increasingly popular fetish, the handler, Sam Brinton in this case, “It’s not sexual. It’s totally about being able to just be, and have fun being in the moment. Even the humping, it’s not really a sexual thing, it’s just part of the play.” Though sex during the puppy play seems abnormal to most, Sam Brinton actually normalizes it in this statement, “I actually have trouble when we transition from pup play to having sex,” Brinton explains. “Like, ‘No, I can’t have you whimper like that when we’re having sex,’ because I don’t want to mix that world. It’s interesting, because he doesn’t have to come out of pup mode to have me fuck him. I personally have to bring him out of pup perception for me. But then I’m still treating him as a submissive to me.” The article goes on to talk about how the tail also doubles as an “insertable”.
So that plane came down fast, huh?!
Reading this article many people will say, “Why do you care about his sex life, it’s none of your business.” Well actually it is my business because Brinton made it everyone’s business and continues to make it everyone’s business. Brinton often booked speaking engagements at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to discuss sex education, kink and BDSM on campus. I don’t openly advertise my sexual life, and can safely say it’s none of your business. But if I were to advertise my sex life, then, yes, now it becomes your business and my character is open to interpretation based on this knowledge.
Sam Brinton, the MIT graduate nuclear scientist, deserves every bit of the job to manage nuclear waste policy for the Department of Energy. But will his fetish life compromise his credibility as a scientist, stress trust in the workplace at the DOE, or even create vulnerabilities in trying to work with policy makers? Probably not. The Biden Administration, in it’s efforts to normalize all things uncomfortable, will probably find another candidate even more provocative than Sam Brinton.
