About Gerry Studds:
Born: May 12, 1937 in Mineola, New York
Died: October 14, 2006
Education: Bachelor's in History, Yale University, 1959. Master's degree in 1961.
Late congressman Studds was the first openly gay man to serve in the U.S. Congress. Studds came out in 1983 after an admitted consensual affair with a 17-year old page years earlier. He was then censored by the House.
Political Start:
Post graduation, Gerry Studds was a foreign service officer in the State Department. He also aided the Kennedy Administration in establishing the Peace Corps. In 1970, Studds lost his first run for Congress to a Republican incumbent. His next attempt in 1972 was successful. He represented Cape Cod and the Islands, New Bedford, and the South Shore for 12 terms.
Studd's Coming Out Statement:
After the 1983 page scandal, Studd came out in an address to the House, "It is not a simple task for any of us to meet adequately the obligations of either public or private life, let alone both, but these challenges are made substantially more complex when one is, as I am, both an elected public official and gay." Studd was re-elected to five more terms. Studd and partner Dean T. Hara had been together since 1991. They married May 24, 2005 in Boston.
Studd's Death:
Gerry Studd retired from Congress in 1997 and worked as a lobbyist. He died of a blood clot in the lung on October 14, 2006 in Boston, Massachusetts.
