Gerry Studds: America's First Openly Gay Congressman
Representative Gerry Studds served the Massachusetts South Shore, Cape Cod, and New Bedford congressional district from 1973 to 1997. During his first decade in the House he helped pass legislation that protected American fishermen from overfishing by international boats and limited President Ronald Reagan's wars in Central America.

The defining moment of his career, however, came in 1983, when he was censured by the House for having had an affair with a page ten years previously. On the floor of Congress, Studds confessed to having behaved inappropriately and then courageously declared that he was a gay man—becoming the country's first openly gay member of Congress. Defying all expectations, Studds won reelection in a bruising campaign. For the rest of his career, he remained loyal to his constituents' concerns while also championing AIDS research and care, leading the effort in Congress to allow gays and lesbians to serve in the military, and opposing the Defense of Marriage Act. Once a deeply conflicted man, he ultimately found a balance between his public service and his private life, which included a happy, legally recognized marriage.
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Gerry Studds: America's First Openly Gay Congressman
Representative Gerry Studds served the Massachusetts South Shore, Cape Cod, and New Bedford congressional district from 1973 to 1997. During his first decade in the House he helped pass legislation that protected American fishermen from overfishing by international boats and limited President Ronald Reagan's wars in Central America.

The defining moment of his career, however, came in 1983, when he was censured by the House for having had an affair with a page ten years previously. On the floor of Congress, Studds confessed to having behaved inappropriately and then courageously declared that he was a gay man—becoming the country's first openly gay member of Congress. Defying all expectations, Studds won reelection in a bruising campaign. For the rest of his career, he remained loyal to his constituents' concerns while also championing AIDS research and care, leading the effort in Congress to allow gays and lesbians to serve in the military, and opposing the Defense of Marriage Act. Once a deeply conflicted man, he ultimately found a balance between his public service and his private life, which included a happy, legally recognized marriage.
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Gerry Studds: America's First Openly Gay Congressman

Gerry Studds: America's First Openly Gay Congressman

by Mark Robert Schneider
Gerry Studds: America's First Openly Gay Congressman

Gerry Studds: America's First Openly Gay Congressman

by Mark Robert Schneider

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Overview

Representative Gerry Studds served the Massachusetts South Shore, Cape Cod, and New Bedford congressional district from 1973 to 1997. During his first decade in the House he helped pass legislation that protected American fishermen from overfishing by international boats and limited President Ronald Reagan's wars in Central America.

The defining moment of his career, however, came in 1983, when he was censured by the House for having had an affair with a page ten years previously. On the floor of Congress, Studds confessed to having behaved inappropriately and then courageously declared that he was a gay man—becoming the country's first openly gay member of Congress. Defying all expectations, Studds won reelection in a bruising campaign. For the rest of his career, he remained loyal to his constituents' concerns while also championing AIDS research and care, leading the effort in Congress to allow gays and lesbians to serve in the military, and opposing the Defense of Marriage Act. Once a deeply conflicted man, he ultimately found a balance between his public service and his private life, which included a happy, legally recognized marriage.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781613765173
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Publication date: 06/29/2018
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 296
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Mark Robert Schneider teaches history at Boston area colleges and universities. He is the author of numerous books, including most recently Joe Moakley's Journey: From South Boston to El Salvador.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1 Wedding Day 5

2 A New England Boyhood 7

3 "Bored with Trivia and Impatient with Stupidity" 19

4 With Gene McCarthy in New Hampshire 32

5 Studds for Congress 48

6 The Sacred Cod 64

7 The Congressman in the Closet 76

8 The Mashpee Wampanoag and the New Bedford Portuguese 84

9 Knocks on the Closet Door 96

10 "The President Has Certified That … Black Is White" 103

11 The Fisherman's Friend Caught in a Net 116

12 A Gay Man Runs for Congress 134

13 Plague of Silence 147

14 Studds versus the Contras 160

15 Provincetown 173

16 Spilling Oil, Spilling Blood 181

17 Gay and Lesbian Warriors 192

18 Gerry Gerrymandered 204

19 Don't Ask, Don't Tell and a Memorable Address 217

20 Saving the Whales … but Not Much Else 232

21 A True Defense of Marriage 244

Epilogue 256

Interviews 263

Notes 265

Index 289

What People are Saying About This

Stuart Weisberg

This is an appealing tale about a Massachusetts congressman of historical importance, the nation's first openly gay member of Congress at a time of the AIDS crisis in the gay community, a man who demonstrated that a congressman could be gay and proud and became an inspiration for many in the LGBT community.

Michael G. Long

Gerry Studds offers a magnificent look at the specificity of the congressman's personal and political life and the breadth of its wider historical contexts, especially the volatile political context of his dramatic career.

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