Iron Man: The Story Of Alex Morse, A Gay 22-Year-Old Mayor In Massachetts | HuffPost Voic

alex morse gay

Democrat Alex Morse — an openly gay mayor who has backed legal weed and crimalizg sex work — is challengg longtime Rep. Richard Neal Massachetts.

Contents:

GAY MAYOR NONTS 'HOMOPHOBIC' SEX SNDAL AHEAD OF PRIMARY

Iron Man: The Story Of Alex Morse, A Gay 22-Year-Old Mayor In Massachetts * alex morse gay *

”The allegatns — that the young, gay mayor had ed his posn of power to sexually proposn vulnerable llege stunts — spread quickly through his wtern Massachetts district, leadg one member of Holyoke’s cy uncil to ll for his ls than a week later, The Intercept published explosive reports allegg that members of the College Democrats at the Universy of Massachetts Amherst, where Morse once worked, had schemed for months to create a sex sndal to rail Morse’s progrsive challenge to cumbent Rep.

“A number of folks are seeg for what is, terms of the the language and rponse to the accatns beg rooted age-old homophobic trop and the nstant overpolicg of the personal liv, the sex liv, of gay men and members of the queer muny, ” Morse told NBC News.

9, sayg Morse “abed his power for sexual relatnships” and nfirmed they sent a siar emailed statement to the ndidate same day, Holyoke uncil member Mike Sullivan lled for Morse to rign for teractns wh “naive and nocent teenage llege stunts, ” acrdg to wtern Massachetts news statn LGBTQ Victory Fund nmned Sullivan, sayg “believ the e of the word ‘teenagers’ is meant to purposely evoke homophobic stereotyp of gay men as pedophil. ”“The archects of the efforts knew this is where the nversatn would lead – wh no regard for the homophobia would unleash, ” the group said, askg those supportg Sullivan’s motn to “ask themselv whether he would treat a straight ndidate the same way.

ALEX MORSE WAS ELECTED MAYOR AT 22. NOW THE GAY JEWISH PROGRSIVE IS NNG FOR CONGRS.

* alex morse gay *

”Morse cid to stay the race, sayg he tsts the voters of Massachetts’ 1st Congrsnal District to make up their own mds as to whether homophobia fluenced the alleged scheme. “If voters aren't seeg the homophobia, they are certaly seeg the tablishment — they are seeg a powerful cumbent at risk of losg a seat and the people around him willg to do whatever tak for him to hold onto power, ” Morse jt as quickly as the sndal had appeared, seemed to disappear: A new report st strong doubts on the origal College Democrats letter five days after ma Aug.

A poll nducted this month put Morse wh five pots of Neal, wh 13 percent of voters uncid — well wh the strikg distance that other Democratic challengers om the left had before wng their, who at 31 is among the first of a generatn of LGBTQ policians who me of age g mon datg apps such as OkCupid, Tr and Grdr, said he “will never apologize for beg young and gay and sgle and g gay datg apps and havg nsensual relatns wh other adult men. Morse, a ngrsnal ndidate and former gut lecturer at the universy, om s future events, claimg “numero cints” of unwanted and appropriate advanc toward Morse is a 31-year-old, gay, small-cy mayor and a risg star natnal progrsive polics.

Neal and his alli the state’s Democratic learship of havg a hand a homophobic plot to smear him.

ELECTED MAYOR AT 22. ALEX MORSE, A GAY JEWISH PROGRSIVE, IS NOW NNG FOR CONGRS.

Morse and works to elect lbian, bisexual, gay and transgenr ndidat, heard through an termediary June about a vague and unsourced plat that the ndidate had a checkered datg the timg of that warng was spic, g jt after the anizatn voted to formally endorse Mr. Morse would set a bad precent for progrsive ndidat, pecially gay on.

GAY CONGRSNAL CANDIDATE TARGETED WH HOMOPHOBIC CALLS AMID SMEAR CAMPAIGN

Cyr, who is gay. “Amerins are OK wh gay policians as long as they’re sexls, ” Mr. Fischel Morse said the suatn left him eply nflicted — as someone who was wrongly acced but who believ victims should not feel timidated to speak out, and as a gay man worried about endurg homophobia Amerin society.

It ma the red-head wunrkd Holyoke’s youngt and first openly gay mayor, and the first a cy which is now 52 percent Hispanic to be fluent Spanish—a skill he ploys to light elementary school class. To get a sense of the race, I spoke wh more than 20 lols, and what I found is a once morate Democratic district flux, potentially on the brk of a substantial of the voters I spoke to were livid about unsavory polil tactics and the homophobic suatns of the allegatns.

And when I asked Neal, who the last bate urged viewers to “listen to the stunts, ” if he would nmn tactics that rulted homophobic rhetoric the district, one of his mpaign advisors stepped to refer me to the mpaign’s statement on the matter. The target dience for the $200, 000 ad buy rais a seri of qutns: If A Case for Women were terted brgg allegatns of misnduct to light, why nvass a group of people wh whom Morse, a gay man, would not be engagg sexual terurse? This publitn has ntacted A Case for Women to ask the exact qutns and will update this story should the anizatn Meloy, senr polil director for LGBTQ Victory Fund, said the cints “are the latt a seri of orchtrated polil attacks meant to weaponize Alex’s sexualy and appeal to a homophobic narrative around the sex liv of [LGBTQ+] people.

IRON MAN: THE STORY OF ALEX MORSE, A GAY 22-YEAR-OLD MAYOR IN MASSACHETTS

”“It is evint that those volved this plot planned to unleash the homophobic forc and setup a mpaign of slanr as ballots h mailbox, ” he said a statement. "I mean--22, openly gay, an old Irish Catholic muny.

In a story that remas murky, progrsive gay ngrsnal ndidate Alex Morse, current Mayor of Holyoke, Massachetts, has been acced of sexual misnduct by three llege Democrat groups.

ARE ALLEGATNS AGAST GAY NGRSNAL NDIDATE ALEX MORSE ROOTED HOMOPHOBIA?

“Navigatg life as both a young gay man and an elected official n be difficult, but that don’t exce poor judgement, ” he wrote. He also add that the accatns are motivated by homophobia:. You’re genuely outraged, as am I, by the votn of age-old anti-gay stereotyp.

THE YOUNGT GAY MAYOR MASSACHETTS HISTORY IS RUNNG FOR CONGRS

Some of Morse’s supporters seem skeptil and believe the accatns are rooted the problematic stereotype of gay men as creepy and sex-obssed. But is cril the media and others avoid rercg tired homophobic trop or sensatnalizg this story bee of Alex’s sexual orientatn.

GAY CONGRSNAL CANDIDATE SAYS HE’S STAYG RACE AMID ABE ALLEGATNS: ‘I HAVE NEVER, MY ENTIRE LIFE, HAD A NON-CONSENSUAL SEXUAL ENUNTER WH ANYONE’

He claims he is beg unfairly targeted bee he is gay. Julian is a sgle, gay man his 30s, jt like Morse. "We have a long history of patg gay men as pedophil and predators, " said Tanya Nlan, a former ndidate for the state Legislature who heads MassEqualy, an LGBTQ advocy group.

GAY MAYOR ALEX MORSE SAYS HIS MPAIGN IS STRONG GOG TO TOMORROW’S PRIMARY

Nlan se a polilly motivated effort to trigger spicns of gay men.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* ALEX MORSE GAY

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(Courty Alex Morse for Congrs)"/></picture><figptn class="article-fig-ptn">Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse a mpaign handout photograph. (Courty Alex Morse for Congrs)</figptn></figure></sectn><div class="article-sectns"><sectn class="article-sectn--ntent hang-punctuatn article-sectn--first article-sectn--centered"><p class="">Congrsnal ndidate Alex Morse appeared on a bate stage Monday for the first time sce the Universy of Massachetts began <a href=">vtigatg</a> a sexual misnduct plat leveled agast him by a stunt group. Dozens of state Democratic mtee members are llg for an pennt vtigatn to what role state party lears may have played spreadg the misnduct allegatns.</p><p class="">Morse is the 31-year-old mayor of Holyoke and a former adjunct profsor at UMass Amherst. He <a href=">acknowledg</a> havg relatnships wh llege stunts but says they weren't his class, and sists he didn't abe his stat. He claims he is beg unfairly targeted bee he is gay.</p><p class="nt-medium">"I would never want to make someone feel unfortable," Morse said the bate. But he add that, his view, "this was a backroom, ordated polil smear agast our mpaign."</p><p class="">Some members of the LGBTQ muny say Morse's relatnships prompt important qutns about power and nsent the age of #MeToo. Some also worry the public scty uld disurage others om enterg polics.</p><p class="nt-medium">"I n tell you has a chillg effect bee I know people who have thought twice about nng for public office bee they're LGBTQ," said State Sen. Julian Cyr.</p><p class="">Cyr is a sgle, gay man his 30s, jt like Morse. He said feels like only a matter of time before his own datg life is weaponized agast him.</p><p class="nt-medium">"From a cynil perspective, I spect will be at some pot," Cyr said. "Polics is fely a blood sport. I thk that's jt somethg I've sort of accepted."</p><p class="">The risk of havg highly personal matters spill to the open is a price that Cyr has been willg to pay on the way to beg assistant majory whip the Massachetts Senate. But he said some potential LGBTQ ndidat look at Morse's suatn and see an unreasonably high st of admissn to the polil arena.</p><p class="nt-medium">"They are ncerned about how their personal liv will be distorted and ed agast them," he said.</p><p class="">The distortn Cyr and others worry about the Morse episo centers on age. One of the facts not dispute is that all of the men Morse was volved wh were, well, men — as adults. But the College Democrats of Massachetts have emphasized the relative youth of Morse's timate partners <a href=">accg him</a> of appropriate nduct.</p><p class="nt-medium">"We have a long history of patg gay men as pedophil and predators," said Tanya Nlan, a former ndidate for the state Legislature who heads MassEqualy, an LGBTQ advocy group.</p><p class="">A lear of the College Democrats was <a href=">reportedly</a> hopg to land an ternship wh Morse's Democratic primary opponent, Rep. Richard Neal.</p><p class="">Nlan se a polilly motivated effort to trigger spicns of gay men.</p><p class="nt-medium">"College stunts are adults. They're young adults, but they're adults," she said. "And by feedg to that trope of, 'He's gog after teenagers,' 's so easy to raise that homophobia people."</p><p class="">Nlan said 's cril to draw a bright le between mors and adults bee bigotry thriv on blurrg that le.</p><p class="">And before voters judge Morse for havg relatnships wh men who may have been a younger, they should nsir this, Nlan add: "Bee the LGBT muny is so small, the datg pool is a lot smaller, too. I n't really speak to where the heads of young people are at. I n tell you that when I was that age, there were tim when I dated people who were olr, and I didn't feel like was a power imbalance or a victimizatn."</p><p class="">One plitn is that feelgs about nsent n change over time, as n social standards, said Steven Blum, a magaze journalist who has <a href=">wrten</a> about age and power dynamics gay relatnships, cludg his own.</p><p class="nt-medium">"I also had a relatnship wh someone who was olr when I was fairly young, and I at the time was the pursuer," Blum said. "And, so, I sort of reamed that experience my md as somethg that was extremely nsensual, and now I look back and I see a different light."</p><p class="">Blum said young gay men n be more vulnerable than their straight unterparts bee they may be newly out and still settg their boundari. He add someone like Morse, the mayor of Holyoke and an adjunct profsor, has a rponsibily to nsir what means for an unrgrad to give nsent.</p><p class="nt-medium">"The fact that Morse has this posn of power, that is relevant bee that do sort of sha how people rpond to advanc," Blum said. "And you have to take that power differential to acunt."</p><p class="">Morse himself has said, "I have to be gnizant of my posn of power." But he matas he never mised his posn and says the UMass vtigatn will bear that out.</p><p class="">It is unlikely, however, that an attorney hired by the universy to nduct that review<b> </b>will reach a ncln before the Sept. 1 primary.</p></sectn></div><sectn class="article-sectn--story-group article-sectn--centered"><p class=""><em>This segment aired on Augt 18, 2020.</em></p></sectn><sectn class="article-sectn--story-group article-sectn--centered Tags_article-sectn--tags__NOKiB"><a data-ec="Article Tags" data-el="Electn 2020" data-ea="Click" class="article-tag" href="/news/tag/electn-2020-massachetts">Electn 2020</a></sectn></article><sectn class="article-sectn--story-group article-sectn--centered"><hear class="zone"><div class="zone-ner"><h2 class="zone-hdr">Related:</h2></div></hear><ul class="article-story-group"><li class="story-group-em"><a data-ec="Article Related Lks" data-el="In Debate, Neal And Morse Addrs Allegatns By College Dems And Reports Of State Party Interference" data-ea="Click" class="story-group-lk" href=">In Debate, Neal And Morse Addrs Allegatns By College Dems And Reports Of State Party Interference</a></li><li class="story-group-em"><a data-ec="Article Related Lks" data-el="'Twists And Turns' Shake Up Neal-Morse Race, But It May All Have 'Zero Effect' On Oute" data-ea="Click" class="story-group-lk" href=">'Twists And Turns' Shake Up Neal-Morse Race, But It May All Have 'Zero Effect' On Oute</a></li><li class="story-group-em"><a data-ec="Article Related Lks" data-el="Facg Allegatns Of Inappropriate Behavr, Morse Still Se Path To Victory Agast Neal" data-ea="Click" class="story-group-lk" href=">Facg Allegatns Of Inappropriate Behavr, Morse Still Se Path To Victory Agast Neal</a></li><li class="story-group-em"><a data-ec="Article Related Lks" data-el="Morse Deni He Vlated UMass Policy, Says He's Stayg In Congrsnal Race" data-ea="Click" class="story-group-lk" href=">Morse Deni He Vlated UMass Policy, Says He's Stayg In Congrsnal Race</a></li></ul></sectn><sectn class="article-sectn--story-group article-sectn--centered"><div class="ntributor has-photo"><div class="ntributor-profile"><figure class="ntributor-profile-em ntributor-photo"><a href="/si/staff/llum-borchers"><picture><img src=" class="lazy rd-image" alt=""/></picture></a></figure><p class="ntributor-profile-em ntributor-b"><a class="ntributor-name" href="/si/staff/llum-borchers">Callum Borchers</a> <span class="ntributor-tle">Reporter</span><br/>Callum vered the Greater Boston bs muny for Bostonomix.</p><p class="ntributor-more"><a class="ntributor-lk ntributor-b-lk" href="/si/staff/llum-borchers">More…</a></p></div></div></sectn><sectn class="sectn--bo sectn--bp"><div class="uw bp--rponsive"><div class="bp-ner"><p class="bp-label">Advertisement</p><div class="bp-ntent bp-ntent--centered"><div style="width:300px;height:50px"></div></div></div></div></sectn><div></div><div class="global-d-ponents onmand--is-playg"><div class="global-player"><d preload="to"></d><div class="global-player-bar"><div class="global-player-bar-left"><button class="global-player-bar-ntrol"><i class="in-play in-play--global-player-bar in-play--psed"><span class="in-play-shape"><span class="in-label" data-note="for-screen-rears">Rume</span></span></i></button><div class="global-player-label global-player-label--live"><div class="global-player-channel"><span>Listen Live</span></div><div class="global-player-tle"><a class="global-player-label-lk" href="/">Loadg...</a></div></div></div><div class="global-player-bar-right"><div class="global-player-x"><svg class="in in-close" viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-labelledby="tle"><tle id="tle">Close .

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