Gerry Studds - Gay Congressman dies

[operafan]

Studds, first openly gay person elected to Congress, dead at 69

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Former U.S. Rep. Gerry Studds, the first openly gay person elected to Congress, died early Saturday at Boston Medical Center, a hospital official said. He was 69.
Christian Kiriakos, central administrator at the hospital, said Studds died between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. He did not have additional information, and details of Studds' death could not be immediately confirmed.
Studds, a liberal Democrat who spent more than 20 years in Congress, was censured by the House in the 1980s for having sex with a 17-year-old male page. He was re-elected for several more terms.
Last year he married his longtime partner, Dean Hara, in Boston

 

[runner]

was censured by the House in the 1980s for having sex with a 17-year-old male page. He was re-elected for several more terms.

I'm sorry to hear about his death. But this line caught my attention. Why all the hoopla about Foley writing e-mails?

 

[runner]

17 is of age?

 

[bma1983]

What are the odds of this man dieing now around the same time this Foley crap is happening.

 

[NedNickerson]

Yes, state law has age of consent at 16.

I'm confused... So why is Foley in the trouble he's in, if the boy he was emailing at the time was 16 years old...? Seems to me that having sex with a 17 year old page is more serious than exchanging lewd emails with a 16 year old...

Age of consent by state:

http://www.webistry.net/jan/consent.html

And an age of consent by state, with differentiation based on whether the sex is heterosexual or homosexual:

http://teenadvice.about.com/library/weekly/qanda/blageofconsentchart.htm?once=true&

 

[NedNickerson]

Studds did not just have sex, he had a relationship with the guy.

According this Wikipedia article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Studds Studds admitted "to having had an affair with a 17 year old page in 1973..."

Two questions:

1) What was the age of consent in 1973? (Studds would have been 36 years old.)
and
2) just what exactly happens when one has "an affair...?" I thought it meant there was sex involved. I would assume there's a difference between a friendship and a relationship... For example, if I was to start exchanging erotic emails with someone here on JUB, I wouldn't necessarily consider that a relationship, but more of a friendship...

http://www.wikiafterdark.com/index.php/Have_an_affair

 

[joehill]

Ok a pioneer of gay rights has died, that is sad.now the GOP has to go back over 30 years and in the case of the sen. from Mass . almost 40 years to find dirt on a dem that is sad

 

[NedNickerson]

Ok a pioneer of gay rights has died, that is sad.now the GOP has to go back over 30 years and in the case of the sen. from Mass . almost 40 years to find dirt on a dem that is sad

But would he have been a "pioneer of gay rights" if he hadn't been caught and forced to acknowledge his homosexuality before the House Ethics Committee? He had already served as a Congressman for 10 years before he acknowledged that he was gay.

It's one thing to acknowledge it at the beginning of your career and let the chips fall where they may, but it's another to acknowlegde it only after you're caught with your pants down or after you've already made your millions... (celebrities George Michael and Richard Chamberlain come to mind...)

It's one thing to champion for gay rights throughout all your career and damn any suspicions anyone has about you and your motives, and another to only feel comfortable enough to do it after you've been outed.

 

[tommyj]

I remember the mother of a friend of mine asking me "why is he still in Congress" after the censure and I said his status as a congressman is up to the voters of the 13th (I believe that was the district) CD. They re-elected him several times.

 

[operafan]

An update on the aftermath of Studds' death...

Congressman's spouse can't have pension
By STEVE LEBLANC
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica]Rep. Gerry E. Studds, D-Mass., faces reporters outside the U.S. Capitol in this file photo from July 20, 1983, after he was censured on the House floor and admitted to a homosexual affair with a teenage page. Studds, the first openly gay person elected to Congress, died early Saturday in Boston. He was 69. (AP Photo/John Duricka, File) [/FONT] BOSTON -- When same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts, among those who tied the knot were former Rep. Gerry Studds and Dean Hara.


But getting married didn't protect them under federal law: Hara has learned he is not eligible for any portion of Studds' estimated annual $114,337 pension following his partner's death last week.


The 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act blocks the federal government from recognizing the 2004 marriage between Studds and Hara or other same-sex couples.
Studds voted against the act, which was passed July 12, 1996, by a vote of 342-67, according to the House Clerk's office.



Rest of the story http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Studds_Benefits.html

 

[RationalLunacy]

God rest his soul, but am I the only person who caught the irony of his last name?

 

[1st love ron]

God rest his soul, but am I the only person who caught the irony of his last name?

...and his age of death.

 

[RationalLunacy]

...and his age of death.

[SIZE=-1]touché ! [/SIZE]