The Rise and Fall of Chris Hugh and Sean Eldridge, Ameri’s Worst Gay Power Couple

Contents:

• PARTY AND PROTT: THE RADIL HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN, STONEWALL AND PRI
• THE POLIL POWER OF LBIANS, GAYS, AND BISEXUALS
• THE STONEWALL RTS DIDN’T START THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• GAY POLIL POWER—OR GOOD SURVIVAL SKILLS?
• GAY POWER
• HOW GAY ACTIVISTS CHALLENGED THE POLICS OF CIVILY
• THE RISE AND FALL OF CHRIS HUGH AND SEAN ELDRIDGE, AMERI’S WORST GAY POWER COUPLEYUCKCHRIS HUGH AND SEAN ELDRIDGE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ENTLED BRATS. AND NOW THE MEDIA HAS FALLY NOTICED. JAM KIRCHICKUPDATED APR. 14, 2017 1:22PM EDT / PUBLISHED DEC. 08, 2014 9:43PM EST THE DAILY BEAST, AMANDA GORDON/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTYJT THREE YEARS AGO, CHRIS HUGH AND SEAN ELDRIDGE WERE THE TOAST OF THE LIBERAL TABLISHMENT. THE FACEBOOK -FOUNR AND HIS POLILLY AMB HBAND EMBODIED ALL THE ATTRIBUT OF A BONA FI “GAY POWER UPLE.” IN 2012, HUGH BOUGHT THE NEW REPUBLIC, RCUG THE FLAGSHIP LIBERAL MAGAZE OM FANCIAL PERIL AND TABLISHG HIMSELF AS A PLAYER WASHGTON. AT THE SAME TIME, ELDRIDGE WAS QUIETLY PREPARG TO N FOR CONGRS UPSTATE NEW YORK.YOUNG, HANDSOME, IVY LEAGUE-PEDIGREED, RICH (“THE WEALTHIT OPENLY GAY MEN UNR 30” ACRDG TO THE ADVOTE, A STRETCH NSIRG THAT THE FORTUNE BELONGS TO HUGH), AND POG PREDICTABLY LIBERAL POLIL VIEWS, THE HUGH-ELDRIDGE PARTNERSHIP WAS STED TO WORK WONRS FOR AMERI.HOW SWIFTLY THGS CHANGE. IN JT THE PAST TWO MONTHS, ONE HALF OF THIS PAIR MANAGED TO SGLE-HANDLY STROY A STORIED JOURNALISTIC STUTN, WHILE THE OTHER SUFFERED A CSHG ELECTORAL FEAT NEW YORK’S 19TH CONGRSNAL DISTRICT. LAST WEEK, THE 31-YEAR-OLD HUGH FORCED THE RIGNATNS OF BOTH THE EDOR AND LERARY EDOR OF THE NEW REPUBLIC, WHOSE 100TH ANNIVERSARY HE PRID OVER LAST MONTH AT A STAR-STUDD GALA WASHGTON, D.C.IN PROTT OF THE MAGAZE’S NEWLY ENSNCED CEO’S PLAN TO TRANSFORM TNR TO A “VERTILLY TEGRATED DIGAL MEDIA PANY,” THE MAJORY OF THE MAGAZE’S SENR AND NTRIBUTG EDORS RIGNED. WEEKS BEFORE THE IMPLOSN AT TNR, 28-YEAR-OLD ELDRIDGE LOST HIS NGRSNAL BID BY A STUNNG 30 POTS, SPE HAVG OUTSPENT HIS OPPONENT NEARLY 3-TO-1 A DISTRICT PRINT OBAMA WON BY 6 PERCENTAGE POTS. THE UPLE HAD PURCHASED A $2 LN HOME THE DISTRICT EXPRSLY SO THAT ELDRIDGE ULD N THERE, THEIR PURCHASE OF A $5 LN MANSN THE ADJOG 18TH HAVG E TO NGHT AFTER THAT SEAT WAS WON BY ANOTHER GAY DEMOCRAT 2012.WHEN HUGH BOUGHT THE NEW REPUBLIC FOR AN UNDISCLOSED SUM LS THAN THREE YEARS AGO, MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA TRIPPED OVER THEMSELV TO FLATTER THE YOUNG HARVARD GRADUATE AND HIS HBAND (FULL DISCLOSURE: I WAS ON THE EDORIAL STAFF OF TNR OM 2007 TO 2009, AND A NTRIBUTG EDOR OM 2010 UNTIL LAST YEAR, DROPPED OM THE MASTHEAD BEFORE WAS OL). “IT’S DIFFICULT NOT TO GET SWEPT UP HUGH’S SCERY, HIS LIFE-OF-THE-MD SWAGGER,” SWOONED NEW YORK’S CARL SWANSON, WHO PENNED THE MOST REVERENTIAL OF MANY NOTIC (NO MEAN FEAT).A NEW YORK TIM PROFILE, MEANWHILE, SET THE SCENE AT A PARIS REVIEW FUNDRAISER HOSTED BY THE UPLE AT CIPRIANI (THE 42ND STREET LOTN, NOT THE WALL STREET ONE, WHERE THEY CELEBRATED THEIR WEDDG WH 400 OF THEIR CLOST IENDS). IN , A SERI OF MANHATTAN LERARY AND MEDIA BIGWIGS PROSTRATED THEMSELV BEFORE THE TWO LIKE NOBL AT A ROYAL URT.“THEY ARE VERY GENERO WH THEIR MONEY AND TIME,” RICHARD SORIS, A FORMER CLTON ADMISTRATN STAFFER AND TELEVISN PUND PRATTLED. “THEY ARE YOUNG, RICH, SMART, AND GOOD-LOOKG. IT’S A PRETTY POWERFUL BATN.”POWERFUL ED. AT THEIR 4,000-SQUARE-FOOT, $5 LN SOHO LOFT, HUGH AND ELDRIDGE HOSTED FUNDRAISERS FOR NANCY PELOSI AND ANDREW CUOMO, AND RAISED MONEY FOR WORTHY LIKE GAY MARRIAGE. ALL THE WHILE THEY RACKED UP FAVORABLE VERAGE THE MASTREAM PRS, AND EVEN MORE SYPHANTIC MENTNS THE GAY PRS. IN 2011, HUGH AND ELDRIDGE GRACED THE VER OF THE ADVOTE’S “40 UNR 40” ISSUE, AND THE FOLLOWG YEAR HUGH ME AT NO. 28 ON OUT’S “POWER LIST.” NEARLY EVERY PROFILE REMARKED UPON THE YOUNG MEN’S PRECY. THEY POSSSED “WISDOM BEYOND THEIR YEARS,” OBSERVED THE ADVOTE. “THE YOUNGT OLD MAN ANY OF KNOWS,” AN UNNAMED IEND OF ATLANTIC PUBLISHER DAVID BRADLEY SAID OF HUGH.EARLIER THIS YEAR, FORMER TNR STAFFER AND WASHGTON POST LUMNIST DANA MILBANK SENT HUGH A FAWNG EMAIL WHICH HE PRAISED THE YOUNG OWNER FOR “DOG THE LORD’S WORK” PURCHASG THE PERPETUALLY MONEY-LOSG MAGAZE, LLG HIM A “21ST-CENTURY WALTER LIPPMAN.”LAST MAY, FORMER TNR EDOR ANDREW SULLIVAN PRODUCED A CLOYGLY SELF-REFERENTIAL BLANDISHMENT OF HUGH FOR A T MAGAZE FEATURE ON SUCCSFUL TWENTYSOMETHGS, PORTRAYG THE SELF-APPOTED EDOR OF THE MAGAZE AS A SLIGHTLY MORE LIBERAL, TWKIER VERSN OF SULLIVAN’S YOUNGER SELF. ACPANYG A PICTURE OF A PENSIVE HUGH STG A FFEE SHOP, BECKED A $2,800 AT, $680 SWEATER, AND $650 SHIRT (ALL VALENTO), SULLIVAN WROTE THAT HUGH “RCUE[D]” TNR, “IS A YOUNG PERSON’S IA OF WHAT AN EDOR SHOULD BE,” AND, STICKG WH THE OLD-SOUL CRAP, TOLD REARS THAT HE “FELT AS IF I WERE A KID TALKG TO A GROWNUP.”TODAY, FORMER TNR WRERS AND THE RT OF THE MEDIA TABLISHMENT ARE RACG TO NOUNCE HUGH. “A DILETTANTE AND A D” IS HOW MILBANK SCRIB THE MAN WHOM HE NOT SO LONG AGO LIKENED TO THE JOURNALISTIC SEND G OF J CHRIST. SULLIVAN ACC HUGH OF “RPORATE STCTN, ” AND SIGNED AN OPEN LETTER WH A RAFT OF OTHER DISGNTLED TNR ALUMS ACCG HUGH OF NOTHG LS THAN “AL[G] A LAMENTABLE BLOW” TO “THE PROMISE OF AMERIN LIFE.” CONTRARY TO THE POPULAR NARRATIVE, TNR DID NOT “DIE” LAST WEEK. ITS MISE AS A THOUGHTFUL JOURNAL OF LIBERAL ( THE CLASSIL SENSE OF THE WORD) THOUGHT WAS FOREORDAED THE DAY HUGH PURCHASED THE MAGAZE. AND THE SIGNS THAT HE WOULD STROY THE NEW REPUBLIC AS WE KNEW WERE CLEAR FOR ANYONE WILLG TO TAKE OFF THEIR IOLOGIL BLRS. FOR BEHD THE SEEMGLY ACPLISHED, SMART, AND CREATIVE PRODIGY THAT SUPPOSEDLY IS CHRIS HUGH LI A EPLY SECURE MAN WH FEW ACPLISHMENTS TO HIS NAME AND A HEAVY BURN TO PROVE HIS SELF, NOT TO MENTN , WORTH. HUGH’S WEALTH AND STAT OWE LTLE TO HIS GENUY AS A SUPPOSED FACEBOOK “-FOUNR” BUT RATHER HIS LUCK AT BEG THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME.UNLIKE MARK ZUCKERBERG AND DT MOSKOVZ, WH WHOM HE ROOMED AT HARVARD, HUGH HAD NO SPECIAL PROGRAMMG OR DG ABILI. BUT THERE WAS A SILVER LG THIS LACK OF TECHNIL EXPERTISE, THAT, AS THE ONLY MEMBER OF THIS TECH GEEK CREW WH PASSABLE SOCIAL SKILLS, HE ULD TAKE UP THE PUBLIC-RELATNS PORTFOL. “HE IS FORTUNATE HE FOUND HIMSELF THE SAME ROOM,” DAVID KIRKPATRICK, THOR OF A BOOK ABOUT THE WEBSE, TOLD THE TIM. “HE IS MORE SOCIALLY ADJTED THAN THE RT OF THEM.” BY HIS OWN ADMISSN, HUGH’ MA JOB FOR FACEBOOK WAS “CTOMER SERVICE.” $700 LN, THE ROUGH AMOUNT THAT HUGH EARNED WHEN HE SHED OUT OF THE PANY 2007, IS A PRETTY GOOD TAKE FOR A GLORIFIED LL-CENTER OPERATOR.KNOWG HOW LTLE HE HAD DONE TO EARN SUCH ILL-GOTTEN GAS, HUGH SET ABOUT TRYG TO PROVE THAT HE WAS ON PAR WH THE STEVE JOBS AND WARREN BUFFETTS OF THE WORLD. HE JOED THE OBAMA 2008 MPAIGN’S SOCIAL-MEDIA TEAM, BUT WAS HARDLY “THE KID WHO MA OBAMA PRINT,” AS FAST COMPANY CLAIMED 2009. AFTER THE ELECTN, HUGH HELPED LNCH A “E-ORIENTED SOCIAL WORK” LLED JUMO, BUT FAILED AFTER LS THAN A YEAR OPERATN.LISTLS AND WH A BURNG SIRE TO SHOW HIS METTLE, HUGH WAS READY WHEN THE OPPORTUNY TO PURCHASE THE NEW REPUBLIC FELL TO HIS LAP 2012. WHOUT SO MUCH AS A SGLE BYLE TO HIS NAME A REPUTABLE JOURNALISTIC OUTLET, NEVER MD THE HARVARD CRIMSON (THOUGH HE WAS, TO BE FAIR, NEWS EDOR OF THE ANDOVER PHILLIPIAN), HUGH APPOTED HIMSELF EDOR--CHIEF OF THE MAGAZE. WH MONTHS, AFTER HAVG PROMISED THE STAFF EDORIAL PENNCE, HE FIRED EDOR RICHARD JT, WHO HAD APPROACHED HIM ABOUT PURCHASG TNR THE FIRST PLACE.SOON, FOR THE FIRST TIME SCE S 1914 FOUNDG, THE MAGAZE STOPPED PUBLISHG UNSIGNED EDORIALS. LAST YEAR, AFTER PROMISG THE ACCLAIMED JOURNALIST STEVE BRILL THAT A 24,000-WORD PIECE HE HAD WRTEN ABOUT THE AMERIN HEALTH-RE SYSTEM WOULD APPEAR ON THE VER OF THE RE-LNCHED MAGAZE, HUGH LAYED S PUBLITN FAVOR OF A PREDICTABLY OBSEQU S-DOWN TERVIEW HE NDUCTED WH HIS FORMER BOSS, THE PRINT OF THE UNED STAT. BRILL WENT ON TO PUBLISH HIS PIECE TIME, WHERE WON A NATNAL MAGAZE AWARD.BY LAST MONTH’S 100TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATN, HUGH’ LT FOR REKNOWN HAD BEE FARCIL. TO SPEAK AT THE EVENT, HE VED FAREED ZAKARIA, WHO STANDS ACCED OF PLAGIARIZG DOZENS OF ARTICL, CLUDG THE VERY FIRST ONE HE WROTE FOR TNR AS A LOWLY TERN BACK 1987. ZAKARIA ALSO EARNED THE DUB HONOR OF APPEARG ON THE MAGAZE’S 2011 LIST OF “OVERRATED THKERS” (“A BAROMETER A GOOD SU, A CREATURE OF TABLISHMENT NSENS, AN EXEMPLARY SPOKMAN FOR THE ALWAYS-EVOLVG MIDDLE.”) BUT TO HUGH, WG AND DG THIS MEDIA STAR WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROTECTG THE TEGRY OF THE STUTN WHOSE REPUTATN HE CLAIMS TO RE SO MUCH ABOUT. HUGH’S ALLEGED FIDDLG WH THE SEATG PLAN FOR THE CENTENARY DNER, AT WHICH HE RELEGATED THE MAGAZE’S STAFF TO THE BACK OF THE ROOM, BROUGHT TO MD THE PATHETIC MEMORY OF JIMMY CARTER MANAGG THE SCHLE OF THE WHE HOE TENNIS URT.ELDRIDGE’S PATH TO FAME IS EVEN MORE ACCINTAL. IN 2010, HE DROPPED OUT OF LAW SCHOOL TO TAKE UP A JOB AS MUNITNS DIRECTOR FOR A GAY-RIGHTS ANIZATN, AN APPOTMENT SOON FOLLOWED BY HIS HBAND’S DONATN OF A QUARTER-LN DOLLARS TO THE GROUP. NE MONTHS AFTER HUGH TOLD NEW YORK MAGAZE, “HE’S 26. HE’S GOG TO DO ALL KDS OF THGS POLICS, BUT I DON’T THK THERE’S ANY SH,” TO N FOR OFFICE, ELDRIDGE ANNOUNCED HIS NGRSNAL NDIDACY.EVEN BY THE ALREADY MONEY-DRENCHED STANDARDS OF AMERIN POLICS, THE ELDRIDGE MPAIGN WAS A JAW-DROPPG SPECTACLE TO BEHOLD. IN PREPARATN FOR A MPAIGN, ELDRIDGE TABLISHED HUDSON RIVER VENTUR, SENTIALLY A VOTE-BUYG APPARAT MASQUERADG AS AN ENOMIC-VELOPMENT PROJECT, TO W OVER SMALL-BS OWNERS AND THEIR EMPLOYE. HE THEN TRAIPSED AROUND THE DISTRICT DISPENSG “VTMENTS” RANGG OM $50,000 TO $500,000 TO LOL PANI. THE UPLE THEN BOUGHT A PROPERTY THE TOWN OF SHOKAN, NEW YORK’S 19TH DISTRICT, JT MONTHS AFTER ELDRIDGE TOLD THE TIM THAT WAS THEIR ORIGAL MANSN, THE 18TH, WHERE “WE PUT DOWN ROOTS, WHERE WE WANT TO HAVE A FAY.”ELDRIDGE RETAED SKDKNICKERBOCKER, A HEAVY-HTG DEMOCRATIC POLIL NSULTG FIRM, WHICH ALSO HAPPENED TO BE DOG PUBLIC-RELATNS WORK FOR HIS VTMENT FUND. “CANDIDAT WHO EMPLOY PEOPLE THE DISTRICTS THEY’RE NNG ENJOY SOME ADVANTAG. WHAT’S SO UNUAL ABOUT THIS SUATN IS THAT HE’S BEG SO TRANSPARENT ABOUT ,” PL HERRNSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE UNIVERSY OF CONNECTICUT’S ROPER CENTER FOR PUBLIC OPN REARCH, TOLD POLI. LACKG ANY SENSE OF IRONY, ELDRIDGE MA MPAIGN-FANCE REFORM A SIGNATURE PLANK.TO NO ONE’S SURPRISE EXCEPT, PERHAPS, THE PAMPERED UPLE, ELDRIDGE LOST THE RACE TO THE REPUBLIN CUMBENT 65 PERCENT TO 35 PERCENT. IN LIGHT OF THE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF MONEY HUGH DUMPED TO THE RACE, WAS ONE OF THE MOST HUIATG FEATS THE LAST ELECTN CYCLE. BUT ELDRIDGE’S POLIL AMBN IS NOT LIKELY TO BE SATIATED. SEVERAL YEARS AGO, BEFORE HE EVER ANNOUNCED HIS NDIDACY, A SOURCE CLOSE TO ELDRIDGE TOLD ME THAT HE HAD SKDKNICKERBOCKER DRAW UP A PLAN FOR HIM TO BEE THE FIRST OPENLY GAY PRINT OF THE UNED STAT (ELDRIDGE WAS BORN CANADA AND UNTIL RECENTLY HELD BOTH CANADIAN AND ISRAELI CIZENSHIP, WHICH WOULD MAKE DIFFICULT TO OVERE THE CONSTUTN’S NATURAL-BORN CIZENSHIP CLSE). EXPECT THE UPLE TO FD ANOTHER MANSN A SAFE DEMOCRATIC DISTRICT WHERE AN AGG REPRENTATIVE IS EXPECTED TO RETIRE.ONE SPECTS THAT HAD THIS UPLE BEEN HETEROSEXUAL AND NSERVATIVE, THE IAL MEDIA ATTENTN WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN QUE SO TOADYG. WE WOULD HAVE NO DOUBT BEEN TREATED TO ENDLS STORI ABOUT HOW A “RAPAC” “RIGHT-WG” LNAIRE, WHO HAD DONE NOTHG TO EARN HIS FORTUNE, SET OUT TO STROY ONE OF LIBERALISM’S GREAT STUTNS ALL THE WHILE ENABLG HIS POWER-MAD SPOE TO “BUY” A SEAT CONGRS. BUT EVERYTHG ABOUT THE HUGH-ELDRIDGE PAIRG ATED AGAST SUCH A PORTRAYAL. THE PROSPECT OF A H-FACED, NVENTNALLY LIBERAL, GAY UPLE H EVERY MEDIA SWEET SPOT. HUGH AND ELDRIDGE ARE NOT “ROLE MOLS FOR A FUTURE GENERATN OF… GAY PEOPLE,” AS THE ADVOTE ABSURDLY STATED. THEY ARE LTLE MORE THAN ENTLED BRATS WHO, LIKE MOST FABULOLY WEALTHY ARRIVIST WHO ATTA THEIR FORTUN THROUGH SHEER LUCK RATHER THAN HARD WORK, ARE ED TO GETTG EVERYTHG THEY WANT, WHEN THEY WANT , AND THROW TEMPER TANTMS WHEN THEY DON’T.IN THEIR ELISM AND SENSE OF ENTLEMENT, THEY REPRENT MUCH OF WHAT LIBERALS ARE SUPPOSED TO SPISE. MOST THE MEDIA AND GAY MUNY WERE PERFECTLY WILLG TO IGNORE THIS IMPOSTURE WHEN THE UPLE WAS THROWG THEIR MONEY AT THE RIGHT AND DISPENSG JOBS TO THEIR JOURNALIST AND POLIL NSULTANT IENDS. HUGH AND ELDRIDGE WERE BENEFICIARI OF A RPT AND PLIANT MEDIA AND POLIL TABLISHMENT THAT GRASPED AT THEIR FILTHY LUCRE. ONLY NOW THAT THE FAIRY TALE HAS E CRASHG DOWN—A MAGAZE STROYED, A VASTATG POLIL LOSS SUFFERED—IS THE HERD WILLG TO ADM THE OBV. UPDATED TUDAY, DEC. 9, 2014: STATEMENT OM ANA DUNN, SKDKNICKERBOCKER: “THE SUGGTN THAT SKDKNICKERBOCKER DREW UP A PRINTIAL PLAN FOR SEAN ELDRIDGE IS UNTE AND LUDICRO ON S FACE, AS WE HAVE TOLD OTHER REPORTERS WHO ASKED ABOUT THIS URBAN MYTH. SEAN’S GOAL IS TO SERVE CONGRS AND WE WERE PROUD TO WORK WH HIM ON HIS MPAIGN.” JAM KIRCHICK
• THE IMPACT ON GAY POLIL POWER
• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• ‘THE REAL VILLA IS THE CLOSET’: A NEW HISTORY OF GAY WASHGTON DEALS WH SOCIETY AS IT TLY WAS

PARTY AND PROTT: THE RADIL HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN, STONEWALL AND PRI

The Victory Fund’s mpaign, “We Belong Together, ” is rollg out this week wh a two-pronged strategy: get allied anizatns to lobby mapmakers to keep gay areas tact, a procs that has already begun some stat, and start assemblg data showg exactly where LGBTQ muni are loted to speed the procs along.

THE POLIL POWER OF LBIANS, GAYS, AND BISEXUALS

Soon they were advotg nothg ls than “gay liberatn” nscns-raisg groups to fundraisg danc, protts outsi hostile newspapers to refug for homels trans and queer people, this surge LGBTQ+ anisg took many forms, and as the first anniversary of the rts me to view, some the muny began discsg how bt to mark what was beg regard as the “Bastille day” of gay rights.

The roots of that bate go back to s earlit days, and suggt that Pri and the Stonewall rts have always been part of a ntent battle for inty and ownership – a battle that has helped produce the very ia of what beg a lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr or queer person might Stonewall rts were not the birth of the gay rights movement. Seven years before that, when police had raid Coopers, a donut shop the cy ntled between two gay bars, LGBTQ+ patrons had attacked officers after the arrt of a number of drag queens, sex workers and gay had been a gay rights movement the US among people scribg themselv as “homophil” sce the late 40s.

Hirschfeld’s scientific approach, bed wh his sympathetic treatment of LGBTQ+ people – he was himself homosexual – had been key velopg the ia that their shared experienc uld be unrstood not jt as discrete sexual (and crimal) acts, nor as psychiatric illns, but as a legible sexual and genr inty, which uld be afford civil rights.

THE STONEWALL RTS DIDN’T START THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

) The Mattache Society had radil roots activism, takg on the anisatnal stcture of cells and central anisatn favoured by the Communist well as publishg magaz for gay men, and supportg victims of police entrapment, the society had wir polil aims, cludg to “unify homosexuals isolated om their own kd” and to “te homosexuals and heterosexuals toward an ethil homosexual culture parallelg the cultur of the Negro, Mexin and Jewish peopl”. Such aims would bee key to the ncept of “gay pri” some two s two s, however, would be among the harst for LGBTQ+ people US history, as the greater visibily of the homosexual inty led to a nservative backlash, and a moral panic the media that was palised upon by policians. After he was forced to appear before the Hoe Un-Amerin Activi Commtee, Hay was expelled om the Mattache Society, now a growg anisatn of a few thoand men, and he wasn’t the last radil to be thrown homophile movement began to tackle “subversive elements” and orient self around rpectabily.

In 1966, the Mattache Society challenged this policy wh a “sip-” at Juli’, a Greenwich Village bar that was popular wh gay men, but was attemptg to shake off s homosexual bars equently flouted this law, explog legal loophol and payg off the NYPD while chargg their LGBTQ+ ctomers high pric for watered-down drks. As the Eastern Regnal Conference of Homophile Organizatns me together for a meetg November 1969 to discs the followg year’s Annual Remr, Rodwell wonred whether a memoratn of the rts – one whout a drs or other rtrictns, and that uld be mirrored across the natn – might not be more suable. At the same time, there were tensns around the excln of trans people, many of whom scribed themselv as queens and transvt, the language of the LGBTQ+ scene at the time, even while still intifyg themselv as “gay” umbrella, which brought people together for the e of liberatn, failed to acknowledge the different experienc of those who sheltered unr , or addrs the power imbalanc wh .

GAY POLIL POWER—OR GOOD SURVIVAL SKILLS?

It wasn’t until the 00s, though, that rporate sponsorship began to overwhelm Pri, as more fundg led to larger and larger events, which LGBTQ+ people are now often charged to the late 90s, some US activists created Gay Shame rponse to Pri’s mercialisatn, an event that foced on anisg around wir issu that affected the whole LGBTQ+ muny. Dpe the radil LGBTQ+ anisg that took place rponse to the Aids crisis – where Pri paras beme a loc for awarens-raisg protts – many more-radil activists felt that, wh creasg rporate volvement, the event was beg taken over by liberal activists wantg to assiate queer liv to beg a “mol mory”, wh marriage and ary service beg a symbol that gay people particular had “ma ”.

This is te, of urse – but then the same uld be said for the US’s close regnal ally, Sdi Rsia, both fascists and relig fundamentalists have found attempts to anise Pri march a potent rallyg ll, mobilisg wispread homophobic feelg by claimg that homosexualy is, sence, a rptg import om the wt. In Poland, natnalist and nservative policians have found electoral benef siar statements; only last year Jarosław Kaczyński, lear of the lg Law and Jtice party, scribed LGBTQ+ activism as a “foreign imported threat to the natn” e of such rhetoric across the world, and the history of European exportatn of homophobic laws, means that attempts by liberal, pro-LGBTQ+ mentators the wt to pict other untri as somehow naturally backwards is often dangeroly unterproductive for LGBTQ+ people those untri.

Of those who ran, more than 220 won their Make It spoke to Torr, along wh three other LGBTQ+ policians about their history-makg w the 2020 electn, the power of reprentatn polics and the advice they have for other LGBTQ+ dividuals who want to n for Rchie Torr, New York's 15th Congrsnal DistrictMa history as the first openly gay Ao-Lato elected to this, March 19, 2018, file photo, New York Cy Council Member Rchie Torr addrs a news nference New York.

GAY POWER

Army service World War I, Gerber was spired to create his anizatn by the Scientific-Humanarian Commtee, a “homosexual emancipatn” group Germany.Gerber’s small group published a few issu of s newsletter “Friendship and Freedom,” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter. Ernment signated Gerber’s Chigo hoe a Natnal Historic Landmark.The Pk TriangleCorbis/Getty ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, 1938.The gay rights movement stagnated for the next few s, though LGBT dividuals around the world did e to the spotlight a few tim.For example, English poet and thor Radclyffe Hall stirred up ntroversy 1928 when she published her lbian-themed novel, The Well of Lonels.

HOW GAY ACTIVISTS CHALLENGED THE POLICS OF CIVILY

And durg World War II, the Nazis held homosexual men ncentratn mps, brandg them wh the famo pk triangle badge, which was also given to sexual predators.Addnally, 1948, his book Sexual Behavr the Human Male, Aled Ksey proposed that male sexual orientatn li on a ntuum between exclively homosexual to exclively heterosexual.The Homophile Years In 1950, Harry Hay found the Mattache Foundatn, one of the natn’s first gay rights group. The Los Angel anizatn ed the term “homophile,” which was nsired ls clil and foced on sexual activy than “homosexual.”Though started off small, the foundatn, which sought to improve the liv of gay men through discsn groups and related activi, expand after foundg member Dale Jenngs was arrted 1952 for solicatn and then later set ee due to a adlocked jury.At the end of the year, Jenngs formed another anizatn lled One, Inc., which weled women and published ONE, the untry’s first pro-gay magaze. Post Office, which 1954 clared the magaze “obscene” and refed to liver .The Mattache Society Mattache Foundatn members rtctured the anizatn to form the Mattache Society, which had lol chapters other parts of the untry and 1955 began publishg the untry’s send gay publitn, The Mattache Review.

That same year, four lbian upl San Francis found an anizatn lled the Dghters of Bilis, which soon began publishg a newsletter lled The Ladr, the first lbian publitn of any kd.The early years of the movement also faced some notable setbacks: the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn listed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr 1952.The followg year, Print Dwight D. In fact, gay men and women New York Cy uld not be served alhol public due to liquor laws that nsired the gatherg of homosexuals to be “disorrly.”In fear of beg shut down by thori, bartenrs would ny drks to patrons spected of beg gay or kick them out altogether; others would serve them drks but force them to s facg away om other ctomers to prevent them om socializg.In 1966, members of the Mattache Society New York Cy staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s— which they vised taverns, clared themselv gay, and waed to be turned away so they uld sue.

They were nied service at the Greenwich Village tavern Juli, rultg much publicy and the quick reversal of the anti-gay liquor laws.The Stonewall Inn A few years later, 1969, a now-famo event talyzed the gay rights movement: The Stonewall Rts.The clanste gay club Stonewall Inn was an stutn Greenwich Village bee was large, cheap, allowed dancg and weled drag queens and homels youths.But the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn. After the Stonewall Rts, a msage was pated on the outsi of the board-up bar readg, "We homosexuals plead wh out people to please help mata peaceful and quiet nduct on the streets of the village." This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay rights.In reportg the events, The New York Daily News rorted to homophobic slurs s tailed verage, nng the headle: “Homo Nt Raid, Queen Be Are Stgg Mad.” The amed newspaper article hangs near the entrance of Stonewall Inn to this day.An unintified group of young people celebrate outsi the board-up Stonewall Inn after the rts. More and more supporters gathered outsi the bar, chantg slogans like “gay power” and “we shall overe.”Over the next several nights, gay activists ntued to gather near the Stonewall, takg advantage of the moment to spread rmatn and build the muny that would fuel the growth of the gay rights movement.

THE RISE AND FALL OF CHRIS HUGH AND SEAN ELDRIDGE, AMERI’S WORST GAY POWER COUPLEYUCKCHRIS HUGH AND SEAN ELDRIDGE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ENTLED BRATS. AND NOW THE MEDIA HAS FALLY NOTICED. JAM KIRCHICKUPDATED APR. 14, 2017 1:22PM EDT / PUBLISHED DEC. 08, 2014 9:43PM EST THE DAILY BEAST, AMANDA GORDON/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTYJT THREE YEARS AGO, CHRIS HUGH AND SEAN ELDRIDGE WERE THE TOAST OF THE LIBERAL TABLISHMENT. THE FACEBOOK -FOUNR AND HIS POLILLY AMB HBAND EMBODIED ALL THE ATTRIBUT OF A BONA FI “GAY POWER UPLE.” IN 2012, HUGH BOUGHT THE NEW REPUBLIC, RCUG THE FLAGSHIP LIBERAL MAGAZE OM FANCIAL PERIL AND TABLISHG HIMSELF AS A PLAYER WASHGTON. AT THE SAME TIME, ELDRIDGE WAS QUIETLY PREPARG TO N FOR CONGRS UPSTATE NEW YORK.YOUNG, HANDSOME, IVY LEAGUE-PEDIGREED, RICH (“THE WEALTHIT OPENLY GAY MEN UNR 30” ACRDG TO THE ADVOTE, A STRETCH NSIRG THAT THE FORTUNE BELONGS TO HUGH), AND POG PREDICTABLY LIBERAL POLIL VIEWS, THE HUGH-ELDRIDGE PARTNERSHIP WAS STED TO WORK WONRS FOR AMERI.HOW SWIFTLY THGS CHANGE. IN JT THE PAST TWO MONTHS, ONE HALF OF THIS PAIR MANAGED TO SGLE-HANDLY STROY A STORIED JOURNALISTIC STUTN, WHILE THE OTHER SUFFERED A CSHG ELECTORAL FEAT NEW YORK’S 19TH CONGRSNAL DISTRICT. LAST WEEK, THE 31-YEAR-OLD HUGH FORCED THE RIGNATNS OF BOTH THE EDOR AND LERARY EDOR OF THE NEW REPUBLIC, WHOSE 100TH ANNIVERSARY HE PRID OVER LAST MONTH AT A STAR-STUDD GALA WASHGTON, D.C.IN PROTT OF THE MAGAZE’S NEWLY ENSNCED CEO’S PLAN TO TRANSFORM TNR TO A “VERTILLY TEGRATED DIGAL MEDIA PANY,” THE MAJORY OF THE MAGAZE’S SENR AND NTRIBUTG EDORS RIGNED. WEEKS BEFORE THE IMPLOSN AT TNR, 28-YEAR-OLD ELDRIDGE LOST HIS NGRSNAL BID BY A STUNNG 30 POTS, SPE HAVG OUTSPENT HIS OPPONENT NEARLY 3-TO-1 A DISTRICT PRINT OBAMA WON BY 6 PERCENTAGE POTS. THE UPLE HAD PURCHASED A $2 LN HOME THE DISTRICT EXPRSLY SO THAT ELDRIDGE ULD N THERE, THEIR PURCHASE OF A $5 LN MANSN THE ADJOG 18TH HAVG E TO NGHT AFTER THAT SEAT WAS WON BY ANOTHER GAY DEMOCRAT 2012.WHEN HUGH BOUGHT THE NEW REPUBLIC FOR AN UNDISCLOSED SUM LS THAN THREE YEARS AGO, MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA TRIPPED OVER THEMSELV TO FLATTER THE YOUNG HARVARD GRADUATE AND HIS HBAND (FULL DISCLOSURE: I WAS ON THE EDORIAL STAFF OF TNR OM 2007 TO 2009, AND A NTRIBUTG EDOR OM 2010 UNTIL LAST YEAR, DROPPED OM THE MASTHEAD BEFORE WAS OL). “IT’S DIFFICULT NOT TO GET SWEPT UP HUGH’S SCERY, HIS LIFE-OF-THE-MD SWAGGER,” SWOONED NEW YORK’S CARL SWANSON, WHO PENNED THE MOST REVERENTIAL OF MANY NOTIC (NO MEAN FEAT).A NEW YORK TIM PROFILE, MEANWHILE, SET THE SCENE AT A PARIS REVIEW FUNDRAISER HOSTED BY THE UPLE AT CIPRIANI (THE 42ND STREET LOTN, NOT THE WALL STREET ONE, WHERE THEY CELEBRATED THEIR WEDDG WH 400 OF THEIR CLOST IENDS). IN , A SERI OF MANHATTAN LERARY AND MEDIA BIGWIGS PROSTRATED THEMSELV BEFORE THE TWO LIKE NOBL AT A ROYAL URT.“THEY ARE VERY GENERO WH THEIR MONEY AND TIME,” RICHARD SORIS, A FORMER CLTON ADMISTRATN STAFFER AND TELEVISN PUND PRATTLED. “THEY ARE YOUNG, RICH, SMART, AND GOOD-LOOKG. IT’S A PRETTY POWERFUL BATN.”POWERFUL ED. AT THEIR 4,000-SQUARE-FOOT, $5 LN SOHO LOFT, HUGH AND ELDRIDGE HOSTED FUNDRAISERS FOR NANCY PELOSI AND ANDREW CUOMO, AND RAISED MONEY FOR WORTHY LIKE GAY MARRIAGE. ALL THE WHILE THEY RACKED UP FAVORABLE VERAGE THE MASTREAM PRS, AND EVEN MORE SYPHANTIC MENTNS THE GAY PRS. IN 2011, HUGH AND ELDRIDGE GRACED THE VER OF THE ADVOTE’S “40 UNR 40” ISSUE, AND THE FOLLOWG YEAR HUGH ME AT NO. 28 ON OUT’S “POWER LIST.” NEARLY EVERY PROFILE REMARKED UPON THE YOUNG MEN’S PRECY. THEY POSSSED “WISDOM BEYOND THEIR YEARS,” OBSERVED THE ADVOTE. “THE YOUNGT OLD MAN ANY OF KNOWS,” AN UNNAMED IEND OF ATLANTIC PUBLISHER DAVID BRADLEY SAID OF HUGH.EARLIER THIS YEAR, FORMER TNR STAFFER AND WASHGTON POST LUMNIST DANA MILBANK SENT HUGH A FAWNG EMAIL WHICH HE PRAISED THE YOUNG OWNER FOR “DOG THE LORD’S WORK” PURCHASG THE PERPETUALLY MONEY-LOSG MAGAZE, LLG HIM A “21ST-CENTURY WALTER LIPPMAN.”LAST MAY, FORMER TNR EDOR ANDREW SULLIVAN PRODUCED A CLOYGLY SELF-REFERENTIAL BLANDISHMENT OF HUGH FOR A T MAGAZE FEATURE ON SUCCSFUL TWENTYSOMETHGS, PORTRAYG THE SELF-APPOTED EDOR OF THE MAGAZE AS A SLIGHTLY MORE LIBERAL, TWKIER VERSN OF SULLIVAN’S YOUNGER SELF. ACPANYG A PICTURE OF A PENSIVE HUGH STG A FFEE SHOP, BECKED A $2,800 AT, $680 SWEATER, AND $650 SHIRT (ALL VALENTO), SULLIVAN WROTE THAT HUGH “RCUE[D]” TNR, “IS A YOUNG PERSON’S IA OF WHAT AN EDOR SHOULD BE,” AND, STICKG WH THE OLD-SOUL CRAP, TOLD REARS THAT HE “FELT AS IF I WERE A KID TALKG TO A GROWNUP.”TODAY, FORMER TNR WRERS AND THE RT OF THE MEDIA TABLISHMENT ARE RACG TO NOUNCE HUGH. “A DILETTANTE AND A D” IS HOW MILBANK SCRIB THE MAN WHOM HE NOT SO LONG AGO LIKENED TO THE JOURNALISTIC SEND G OF J CHRIST. SULLIVAN ACC HUGH OF “RPORATE STCTN, ” AND SIGNED AN OPEN LETTER WH A RAFT OF OTHER DISGNTLED TNR ALUMS ACCG HUGH OF NOTHG LS THAN “AL[G] A LAMENTABLE BLOW” TO “THE PROMISE OF AMERIN LIFE.” CONTRARY TO THE POPULAR NARRATIVE, TNR DID NOT “DIE” LAST WEEK. ITS MISE AS A THOUGHTFUL JOURNAL OF LIBERAL ( THE CLASSIL SENSE OF THE WORD) THOUGHT WAS FOREORDAED THE DAY HUGH PURCHASED THE MAGAZE. AND THE SIGNS THAT HE WOULD STROY THE NEW REPUBLIC AS WE KNEW WERE CLEAR FOR ANYONE WILLG TO TAKE OFF THEIR IOLOGIL BLRS. FOR BEHD THE SEEMGLY ACPLISHED, SMART, AND CREATIVE PRODIGY THAT SUPPOSEDLY IS CHRIS HUGH LI A EPLY SECURE MAN WH FEW ACPLISHMENTS TO HIS NAME AND A HEAVY BURN TO PROVE HIS SELF, NOT TO MENTN , WORTH. HUGH’S WEALTH AND STAT OWE LTLE TO HIS GENUY AS A SUPPOSED FACEBOOK “-FOUNR” BUT RATHER HIS LUCK AT BEG THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME.UNLIKE MARK ZUCKERBERG AND DT MOSKOVZ, WH WHOM HE ROOMED AT HARVARD, HUGH HAD NO SPECIAL PROGRAMMG OR DG ABILI. BUT THERE WAS A SILVER LG THIS LACK OF TECHNIL EXPERTISE, THAT, AS THE ONLY MEMBER OF THIS TECH GEEK CREW WH PASSABLE SOCIAL SKILLS, HE ULD TAKE UP THE PUBLIC-RELATNS PORTFOL. “HE IS FORTUNATE HE FOUND HIMSELF THE SAME ROOM,” DAVID KIRKPATRICK, THOR OF A BOOK ABOUT THE WEBSE, TOLD THE TIM. “HE IS MORE SOCIALLY ADJTED THAN THE RT OF THEM.” BY HIS OWN ADMISSN, HUGH’ MA JOB FOR FACEBOOK WAS “CTOMER SERVICE.” $700 LN, THE ROUGH AMOUNT THAT HUGH EARNED WHEN HE SHED OUT OF THE PANY 2007, IS A PRETTY GOOD TAKE FOR A GLORIFIED LL-CENTER OPERATOR.KNOWG HOW LTLE HE HAD DONE TO EARN SUCH ILL-GOTTEN GAS, HUGH SET ABOUT TRYG TO PROVE THAT HE WAS ON PAR WH THE STEVE JOBS AND WARREN BUFFETTS OF THE WORLD. HE JOED THE OBAMA 2008 MPAIGN’S SOCIAL-MEDIA TEAM, BUT WAS HARDLY “THE KID WHO MA OBAMA PRINT,” AS FAST COMPANY CLAIMED 2009. AFTER THE ELECTN, HUGH HELPED LNCH A “E-ORIENTED SOCIAL WORK” LLED JUMO, BUT FAILED AFTER LS THAN A YEAR OPERATN.LISTLS AND WH A BURNG SIRE TO SHOW HIS METTLE, HUGH WAS READY WHEN THE OPPORTUNY TO PURCHASE THE NEW REPUBLIC FELL TO HIS LAP 2012. WHOUT SO MUCH AS A SGLE BYLE TO HIS NAME A REPUTABLE JOURNALISTIC OUTLET, NEVER MD THE HARVARD CRIMSON (THOUGH HE WAS, TO BE FAIR, NEWS EDOR OF THE ANDOVER PHILLIPIAN), HUGH APPOTED HIMSELF EDOR--CHIEF OF THE MAGAZE. WH MONTHS, AFTER HAVG PROMISED THE STAFF EDORIAL PENNCE, HE FIRED EDOR RICHARD JT, WHO HAD APPROACHED HIM ABOUT PURCHASG TNR THE FIRST PLACE.SOON, FOR THE FIRST TIME SCE S 1914 FOUNDG, THE MAGAZE STOPPED PUBLISHG UNSIGNED EDORIALS. LAST YEAR, AFTER PROMISG THE ACCLAIMED JOURNALIST STEVE BRILL THAT A 24,000-WORD PIECE HE HAD WRTEN ABOUT THE AMERIN HEALTH-RE SYSTEM WOULD APPEAR ON THE VER OF THE RE-LNCHED MAGAZE, HUGH LAYED S PUBLITN FAVOR OF A PREDICTABLY OBSEQU S-DOWN TERVIEW HE NDUCTED WH HIS FORMER BOSS, THE PRINT OF THE UNED STAT. BRILL WENT ON TO PUBLISH HIS PIECE TIME, WHERE WON A NATNAL MAGAZE AWARD.BY LAST MONTH’S 100TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATN, HUGH’ LT FOR REKNOWN HAD BEE FARCIL. TO SPEAK AT THE EVENT, HE VED FAREED ZAKARIA, WHO STANDS ACCED OF PLAGIARIZG DOZENS OF ARTICL, CLUDG THE VERY FIRST ONE HE WROTE FOR TNR AS A LOWLY TERN BACK 1987. ZAKARIA ALSO EARNED THE DUB HONOR OF APPEARG ON THE MAGAZE’S 2011 LIST OF “OVERRATED THKERS” (“A BAROMETER A GOOD SU, A CREATURE OF TABLISHMENT NSENS, AN EXEMPLARY SPOKMAN FOR THE ALWAYS-EVOLVG MIDDLE.”) BUT TO HUGH, WG AND DG THIS MEDIA STAR WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROTECTG THE TEGRY OF THE STUTN WHOSE REPUTATN HE CLAIMS TO RE SO MUCH ABOUT. HUGH’S ALLEGED FIDDLG WH THE SEATG PLAN FOR THE CENTENARY DNER, AT WHICH HE RELEGATED THE MAGAZE’S STAFF TO THE BACK OF THE ROOM, BROUGHT TO MD THE PATHETIC MEMORY OF JIMMY CARTER MANAGG THE SCHLE OF THE WHE HOE TENNIS URT.ELDRIDGE’S PATH TO FAME IS EVEN MORE ACCINTAL. IN 2010, HE DROPPED OUT OF LAW SCHOOL TO TAKE UP A JOB AS MUNITNS DIRECTOR FOR A GAY-RIGHTS ANIZATN, AN APPOTMENT SOON FOLLOWED BY HIS HBAND’S DONATN OF A QUARTER-LN DOLLARS TO THE GROUP. NE MONTHS AFTER HUGH TOLD NEW YORK MAGAZE, “HE’S 26. HE’S GOG TO DO ALL KDS OF THGS POLICS, BUT I DON’T THK THERE’S ANY SH,” TO N FOR OFFICE, ELDRIDGE ANNOUNCED HIS NGRSNAL NDIDACY.EVEN BY THE ALREADY MONEY-DRENCHED STANDARDS OF AMERIN POLICS, THE ELDRIDGE MPAIGN WAS A JAW-DROPPG SPECTACLE TO BEHOLD. IN PREPARATN FOR A MPAIGN, ELDRIDGE TABLISHED HUDSON RIVER VENTUR, SENTIALLY A VOTE-BUYG APPARAT MASQUERADG AS AN ENOMIC-VELOPMENT PROJECT, TO W OVER SMALL-BS OWNERS AND THEIR EMPLOYE. HE THEN TRAIPSED AROUND THE DISTRICT DISPENSG “VTMENTS” RANGG OM $50,000 TO $500,000 TO LOL PANI. THE UPLE THEN BOUGHT A PROPERTY THE TOWN OF SHOKAN, NEW YORK’S 19TH DISTRICT, JT MONTHS AFTER ELDRIDGE TOLD THE TIM THAT WAS THEIR ORIGAL MANSN, THE 18TH, WHERE “WE PUT DOWN ROOTS, WHERE WE WANT TO HAVE A FAY.”ELDRIDGE RETAED SKDKNICKERBOCKER, A HEAVY-HTG DEMOCRATIC POLIL NSULTG FIRM, WHICH ALSO HAPPENED TO BE DOG PUBLIC-RELATNS WORK FOR HIS VTMENT FUND. “CANDIDAT WHO EMPLOY PEOPLE THE DISTRICTS THEY’RE NNG ENJOY SOME ADVANTAG. WHAT’S SO UNUAL ABOUT THIS SUATN IS THAT HE’S BEG SO TRANSPARENT ABOUT ,” PL HERRNSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE UNIVERSY OF CONNECTICUT’S ROPER CENTER FOR PUBLIC OPN REARCH, TOLD POLI. LACKG ANY SENSE OF IRONY, ELDRIDGE MA MPAIGN-FANCE REFORM A SIGNATURE PLANK.TO NO ONE’S SURPRISE EXCEPT, PERHAPS, THE PAMPERED UPLE, ELDRIDGE LOST THE RACE TO THE REPUBLIN CUMBENT 65 PERCENT TO 35 PERCENT. IN LIGHT OF THE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF MONEY HUGH DUMPED TO THE RACE, WAS ONE OF THE MOST HUIATG FEATS THE LAST ELECTN CYCLE. BUT ELDRIDGE’S POLIL AMBN IS NOT LIKELY TO BE SATIATED. SEVERAL YEARS AGO, BEFORE HE EVER ANNOUNCED HIS NDIDACY, A SOURCE CLOSE TO ELDRIDGE TOLD ME THAT HE HAD SKDKNICKERBOCKER DRAW UP A PLAN FOR HIM TO BEE THE FIRST OPENLY GAY PRINT OF THE UNED STAT (ELDRIDGE WAS BORN CANADA AND UNTIL RECENTLY HELD BOTH CANADIAN AND ISRAELI CIZENSHIP, WHICH WOULD MAKE DIFFICULT TO OVERE THE CONSTUTN’S NATURAL-BORN CIZENSHIP CLSE). EXPECT THE UPLE TO FD ANOTHER MANSN A SAFE DEMOCRATIC DISTRICT WHERE AN AGG REPRENTATIVE IS EXPECTED TO RETIRE.ONE SPECTS THAT HAD THIS UPLE BEEN HETEROSEXUAL AND NSERVATIVE, THE IAL MEDIA ATTENTN WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN QUE SO TOADYG. WE WOULD HAVE NO DOUBT BEEN TREATED TO ENDLS STORI ABOUT HOW A “RAPAC” “RIGHT-WG” LNAIRE, WHO HAD DONE NOTHG TO EARN HIS FORTUNE, SET OUT TO STROY ONE OF LIBERALISM’S GREAT STUTNS ALL THE WHILE ENABLG HIS POWER-MAD SPOE TO “BUY” A SEAT CONGRS. BUT EVERYTHG ABOUT THE HUGH-ELDRIDGE PAIRG ATED AGAST SUCH A PORTRAYAL. THE PROSPECT OF A H-FACED, NVENTNALLY LIBERAL, GAY UPLE H EVERY MEDIA SWEET SPOT. HUGH AND ELDRIDGE ARE NOT “ROLE MOLS FOR A FUTURE GENERATN OF… GAY PEOPLE,” AS THE ADVOTE ABSURDLY STATED. THEY ARE LTLE MORE THAN ENTLED BRATS WHO, LIKE MOST FABULOLY WEALTHY ARRIVIST WHO ATTA THEIR FORTUN THROUGH SHEER LUCK RATHER THAN HARD WORK, ARE ED TO GETTG EVERYTHG THEY WANT, WHEN THEY WANT , AND THROW TEMPER TANTMS WHEN THEY DON’T.IN THEIR ELISM AND SENSE OF ENTLEMENT, THEY REPRENT MUCH OF WHAT LIBERALS ARE SUPPOSED TO SPISE. MOST THE MEDIA AND GAY MUNY WERE PERFECTLY WILLG TO IGNORE THIS IMPOSTURE WHEN THE UPLE WAS THROWG THEIR MONEY AT THE RIGHT AND DISPENSG JOBS TO THEIR JOURNALIST AND POLIL NSULTANT IENDS. HUGH AND ELDRIDGE WERE BENEFICIARI OF A RPT AND PLIANT MEDIA AND POLIL TABLISHMENT THAT GRASPED AT THEIR FILTHY LUCRE. ONLY NOW THAT THE FAIRY TALE HAS E CRASHG DOWN—A MAGAZE STROYED, A VASTATG POLIL LOSS SUFFERED—IS THE HERD WILLG TO ADM THE OBV. UPDATED TUDAY, DEC. 9, 2014: STATEMENT OM ANA DUNN, SKDKNICKERBOCKER: “THE SUGGTN THAT SKDKNICKERBOCKER DREW UP A PRINTIAL PLAN FOR SEAN ELDRIDGE IS UNTE AND LUDICRO ON S FACE, AS WE HAVE TOLD OTHER REPORTERS WHO ASKED ABOUT THIS URBAN MYTH. SEAN’S GOAL IS TO SERVE CONGRS AND WE WERE PROUD TO WORK WH HIM ON HIS MPAIGN.” JAM KIRCHICK

1 / 12: NY Daily News Archive/Getty ImagChristopher Street Liberatn Day Shortly after the Stonewall uprisg, members of the Mattache Society spl off to form the Gay Liberatn Front, a radil group that lnched public monstratns, protts and nontatns wh polil officials.Siar groups followed, cludg the Gay Activists Alliance, Radilbians, and Street Transvt Actn Revolutnari (STAR).In 1970, at the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, New York Cy muny members marched through lol streets memoratn of the event.

In 1977, for stance, the New York Supreme Court led that transgenr woman Renée Richards uld play at the Uned Stat Open tennis tournament as a woman.Addnally, several openly LGBTQ dividuals secured public office posns: Kathy Kozachenko won a seat to the Ann Harbor, Michigan, Cy Council 1974, beg the first out Amerin to be elected to public office.Harvey Milk, who mpaigned on a pro-gay rights platform, beme the San Francis cy supervisor 1978, beg the first openly gay man elected to a polil office California.Milk asked Gilbert Baker, an artist and gay rights activist, to create an emblem that reprents the movement and would be seen as a symbol of pri. Baker signed and stched together the first rabow flag, which he unveiled at a pri para 1978.The followg year, 1979, more than 100,000 people took part the first Natnal March on Washgton for Lbian and Gay Rights.Outbreak of AIDS The outbreak of AIDS the Uned Stat domated the stggle for gay rights the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn published a report about five prevly healthy homosexual men beg fected wh a rare type of pnmonia.By 1984, rearchers had intified the e of AIDS—the human immunoficiency vis, or HIV—and the Food and Dg Admistratn licensed the first mercial blood tt for HIV 1985.

But after failg to garner enough support for such an open policy, Print Clton 1993 passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, which allowed gay men and women to serve the ary as long as they kept their sexualy a secret.Gay rights advot cried the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, as did ltle to stop people om beg discharged on the grounds of their sexualy.In 2011, Print Obama fulfilled a mpaign promise to repeal DADT; by that time, more than 12,000 officers had been discharged om the ary unr DADT for refg to hi their sexualy. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was officially repealed on September 20, 2011.Gay Marriage and Beyond In 1992, the District of Columbia passed a law that allowed gay and lbian upl to register as domtic partners, grantg them some of the rights of marriage (the cy of San Francis passed a siar ordance three years prr and California would later extend those rights to the entire state 1999).In 1993, the hight urt  Hawaii led that a ban on gay marriage may go agast the state’s nstutn. In 1994, a new anti-hate-crime law allowed judg to impose harsher sentenc if a crime was motivated by a victim’s sexual orientatn.The Matthew Shepard ActCourty of the Matthew Shepard FoundatnMatthew Shepard, who was btally killed a hate crime 1998.In 2003, gay rights proponents had another b of happy news: the U.S.

THE IMPACT ON GAY POLIL POWER

The murr was thought to be driven by Shepard’s perceived homosexualy.In 2011, Print Obama fulfilled a mpaign promise to repeal DADT; by that time, more than 12,000 officers had been discharged om the ary unr DADT for refg to hi their sexualy.A uple of years later, the Supreme Court led agast Sectn 3 of DOMA, which allowed the ernment to ny feral benefs to married same-sex upl. DOMA soon bee powerls, when 2015 the Supreme Court led that stat nnot ban same-sex marriage, makg gay marriage legal throughout the untry.Transgenr Rights One day after that landmark 2015 lg, the Boy Suts of Ameri lifted s ban agast openly gay lears and employe.

Gay rights proponents mt also ntent wh an creasg number of “relig liberty” state laws, which allow bs to ny service to LGBTQ dividuals due to relig beliefs, as well as “bathroom laws” that prevent transgenr dividuals om g public bathrooms that don’t rrpond to their sex at birth. Followg Wednday’s Supreme Court arguments on the nstutnaly of the Defense of Marriage Act, there has been a lot of discsn of whether gays and lbians dividually, and the gay-rights movement general, have bee so polilly powerful as to hardly warrant the safeguards of the equal-protectn clse of the Constutn.

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Perhaps the bt evince of the lack of polil power at that time is that the law—one of the most discrimatory anti-gay measure Amerin history—was passed by veto-proof margs both ho of Congrs and signed by a Print who, even though he personally opposed the goals of the legislatn, was unwillg to stand up agast an electn year out of fear that dog so would require that he fend himself agast the charge that he supported the group stigmatized by the bill’s sponsors.

‘THE REAL VILLA IS THE CLOSET’: A NEW HISTORY OF GAY WASHGTON DEALS WH SOCIETY AS IT TLY WAS

Moreover, and gog directly to Chief Jtice Roberts’s pot about the succs gay-rights advot had last year’s electn—wng ballot iativ Mae, Maryland, Mnota, and Washgton—I hardly thk havg to raise tens of lns of dollars to obta your rights, when they are ee to everyone else, would suggt a lot of polil power the first stance. Or thk of this way: jt bee the gay teen-agers on “Glee” are accepted, well-adjted, loved by their peers, and able to kiss on televisn whout nsequence their fictnalized realy do not mean that a poor, young, gay teen-ager livg the red-state South is not havg a hard time of .

In the early 1970s, most zaps foced on prottg negative reprentatns of gays and lbians televisn shows, films and newspapers, like ABC's "Marc Welby MD" (zapped 1973 for s nflatn of homosexualy and illns), and NBC's "Police Woman" (zapped 1974 by the Lbian Femist Liberatn group, for pictg a gang of lbian murrers targetg elrly people a nursg home). EdSummariPurportedly about the gay muny San Francis and s rise to polil power, this episo stead foced on the most sordid aspects of gay life that s producers uld Harry Reasoner opened the hour wh the followg narratn, over shots of the 1979 March on Washgton: "For someone of my generatn, sounds a b prepostero. At the same time, Eldridge was quietly preparg to n for Congrs upstate New, handsome, Ivy League-pedigreed, rich (“the wealthit openly gay men unr 30” acrdg to The Advote, a stretch nsirg that the fortune belongs to Hugh), and pog predictably liberal polil views, the Hugh-Eldridge partnership was sted to work wonrs for swiftly thgs change.

The uple had purchased a $2 ln home the district exprsly so that Eldridge uld n there, their purchase of a $5 ln mansn the adjog 18th havg e to nght after that seat was won by another gay Democrat Hugh bought The New Republic for an undisclosed sum ls than three years ago, members of the media tripped over themselv to flatter the young Harvard graduate and his hband (Full disclosure: I was on the edorial staff of TNR om 2007 to 2009, and a ntributg edor om 2010 until last year, dropped om the masthead before was ol). Several years ago, before he ever announced his ndidacy, a source close to Eldridge told me that he had SKDKnickerbocker draw up a plan for him to bee the first openly gay print of the Uned Stat (Eldridge was born Canada and until recently held both Canadian and Israeli cizenship, which would make difficult to overe the Constutn’s natural-born cizenship clse).

The For Fuck's Sake Summ, hosted by the anizatn MPact Global Actn for Gay Men's Health and Rights, is a groundbreakg nveng that will brg back the foc to gay sex at this summer's Internatnal AIDS Conference Montreal on July 70 untri around the world still crimalize same-sex sexual behavr. In the Uned Stat this greater visibily brought some backlash, particularly om the ernment and the police: the ernment often fired gay civil servants, the ary attempted to purge s ranks of gay soldiers (a policy enacted durg World War II), and police vice squads equently raid gay bars and arrted their patrons. In the Uned Stat the first major male anizatn, found 1950–51 by Harry Hay Los Angel, was the Mattache Society (s name reputedly rived om a medieval French society of masked players, the Société Mattache, to reprent the public “maskg” of homosexualy), while the Dghters of Bilis (named after the Sapphic love poems of Pierre Louÿs, Chansons Bilis), found 1955 by Phyllis Lyon and Del Mart San Francis, was a leadg group for women.

In Bra 1957 a missn chaired by Sir John Wolfenn issued a groundbreakg report (see Wolfenn Report) remendg that private homosexual liaisons between nsentg adults be removed om the doma of crimal law; a later the remendatn was implemented by Parliament the Sexual Offenc Act. This support, along wh mpaigns by gay activists urgg gay men and women to “e out of the closet” (ed, the late 1980s, Natnal Comg Out Day was tablished, and is now celebrated on October 11 most untri), enuraged gay men and women to enter the polil arena as ndidat. Other issu of primary importance for the gay rights movement sce the 1970s clud batg the HIV/AIDS epimic and promotg disease preventn and fundg for rearch; lobbyg ernment for nondiscrimatory polici employment, hog, and other aspects of civil society; endg the ban on ary service for gay and lbian dividuals; expandg hate crim legislatn to clu protectns for gays, cludg transgenr dividuals; and securg marriage rights for same-sex upl (see same-sex marriage).

Roma has sued any publitn that referred to his father beg gay (bisexualy Italy is still a metaphysil ncept) but his grand-dghter Ylenia went missg the 90's New Orleans, 's still one of the most famo unsolved mysteri Italian Anonymoreply 18Febary 25, 2018 12:22 PM. You will never fd gay or bisexual stuff on Wikipedia about any stars of the goln era (except for some severely qualified stuff about Cary Grant) for the simple reason such pag are patrolled by a pack of old homophobic geezers who immediately revert any suatn, spe the fact movie luvvi are still luvvi who would whore themselv for a sgle ed to hang round wh Big Girl’s Bloe Car Romero.