Misc.: Gerry Studds

Gerry Studds, D-MA, was the first U.S. congressman to come out of the closet as gay.

The Yale graduate had worked in the Foreign Service and after that had worked in the Kennedy White House. He lost his first bid for Congress, but in his second attempt in the early 1970s, was elected. He ran into trouble in 1973 for having dallied with a male congressional page and was censured by the House.

Studds was reelected anyway and went on to further terms and was known as an advocate for gay marriage, cleaning up the environment, better funding for AIDS research, and the fishing industry. He lobbied for that industry after retiring from Congress in 1997. A marine sanctuary in Massachusetts was named in his honor.

Studds died at age 69 in 2006.