Thirteen votg members of the 118th Congrs intify as lbian, gay or bisexual – the hight number of openly LGB members history.
Contents:
- HOW CONGRSMAN GERRY STUDDS MA HISTORY BY COMG OUT AS GAY
- FIRST OPENLY GAY REPUBLIN ELECTED TO HOE WON LI SEAT WH ‘MON SENSE’ MSAGE
- 118TH CONGRS BREAKS RERD FOR LBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL REPRENTATN
- BARNEY FRANK IS THE FIRST MARRIED, OPENLY GAY CONGRSMAN
HOW CONGRSMAN GERRY STUDDS MA HISTORY BY COMG OUT AS GAY
Barney Frank, Amerin Democratic polician who served the U.S. Hoe of Reprentativ (1981–2013) and was one of the first openly gay members of Congrs. He thored (wh Chris Dodd) the Dodd-Frank Act, a broad package of regulatns and reforms of the fancial servic and nsumer fance dtri. * first openly gay us congressman *
Congrs has more openly gay members than ever before.
Thirteen members of the 118th Congrs intify as lbian, gay or bisexual, cludg Sen. Tammy Baldw, a Wisns Democrat who beme the first openly gay U.
Forty years ago, Democrat Gerry Studds helped pave the way for this historic reprentatn by beg the first member of Congrs to e out as gay while office. But the challeng are ma substantially more plex when one is, as am I, both an elected public official and gay. Back then, “no Congrsman had survived a public revelatn of their homosexualy, ” acrdg to Jam Kirchick, thor of Secret Cy: The Hidn History of Gay Washgton.
FIRST OPENLY GAY REPUBLIN ELECTED TO HOE WON LI SEAT WH ‘MON SENSE’ MSAGE
The openly gay, lbian, bisexual, or transgenr Congrspeople have served both parti om multiple stat. * first openly gay us congressman *
“There was jt a lot of fear the untry, a lot of prejudice surroundg the AIDS crisis, ” says Kirchick, who noted that the Cold War also played a role fuelg homophobia. “There was this fear that gay people uld not be tsted wh natnal secury secrets bee they n be blackmailed—even though there was not a sgle example of a gay person beg blackmailed to givg secrets to a foreign power. ” The ntroversy over Studds stck a chord wh a fellow gay lleague the Massachetts legatn, Barney Frank.
Their ntued electoral succs after g out were, to Frank, “the first ditns that Ameri was not as homophobic as people thought they were supposed to be. And he believ beg openly gay is an asset for policians, cg 2020 printial ndidate and Secretary of Transportatn Pete Buttigieg.
As he jok, “By the time I retired 2012, beg gay was much more socially acceptable than beg a ngrsman.
118TH CONGRS BREAKS RERD FOR LBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL REPRENTATN
* first openly gay us congressman *
Hoe of Reprentativ (1981–2013) and was one of the first openly gay members of Bart Frank—he legally changed his name to Barney the 1960s—he was raised a Jewish workg-class fay New Jersey. Though failed to pass, the bill reprented the first attempt to troduce legal protectn of gay rights won reelectn three tim, earng a J. In 1987 he beme the first member of Congrs to voluntarily clare his homosexualy, and the followg year he was reelected wh 70 percent of the vote.
The exact begng of Feral anti-gay legislatn is difficult to terme.
BARNEY FRANK IS THE FIRST MARRIED, OPENLY GAY CONGRSMAN
Many early laws and rolutns banned sodomy and “obsceni, ” tegori which clud gay relatnships whout explicly referencg homosexualy. The first appearanc of the words “homosexual” and “lbian” the Congrsnal Rerd occurred 1927. John Kdred of New York ed “homosexual” durg his quiry to new sexual rejuvenatn medil procr.
Five years later, 1950, Congrs put forth a report entled “Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts Government, ” which marks the first time that Congrs explicly discrimated based on sexual orientatn. The report also signated homosexualy a psychologil illns which ma workers “generally unsuable” for employment and ernment “secury risks.