Elected mayor at 22. Alex Morse, a gay Jewish progrsive, is now nng for Congrs. – The Forward

Contents:

• GAY MAYOR NONTS 'HOMOPHOBIC' SEX SNDAL AHEAD OF PRIMARY
• ALEX MORSE WAS ELECTED MAYOR AT 22. NOW THE GAY JEWISH PROGRSIVE IS NNG FOR CONGRS.
• ELECTED MAYOR AT 22. ALEX MORSE, A GAY JEWISH PROGRSIVE, IS NOW NNG FOR CONGRS.
• GAY CONGRSNAL CANDIDATE TARGETED WH HOMOPHOBIC CALLS AMID SMEAR CAMPAIGN
• IRON MAN: THE STORY OF ALEX MORSE, A GAY 22-YEAR-OLD MAYOR IN MASSACHETTS
• ARE ALLEGATNS AGAST GAY NGRSNAL NDIDATE ALEX MORSE ROOTED HOMOPHOBIA?
• THE YOUNGT GAY MAYOR MASSACHETTS HISTORY IS RUNNG FOR CONGRS
• 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’
• GAY MAYOR ALEX MORSE SAYS HIS MPAIGN IS STRONG GOG TO TOMORROW’S PRIMARY

GAY MAYOR NONTS 'HOMOPHOBIC' SEX SNDAL AHEAD OF PRIMARY

”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.

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

“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.

”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. Cyr, who is gay.

GAY CONGRSNAL CANDIDATE TARGETED WH HOMOPHOBIC CALLS AMID SMEAR CAMPAIGN

“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.

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

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.

ARE ALLEGATNS AGAST GAY NGRSNAL NDIDATE ALEX MORSE ROOTED HOMOPHOBIA?

”“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.

THE YOUNGT GAY MAYOR MASSACHETTS HISTORY IS RUNNG FOR CONGRS

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. “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. 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.

Nlan se a polilly motivated effort to trigger spicns of gay men. "And by feedg to that trope of, 'He's gog after teenagers, ' 's so easy to raise that homophobia people.

"One plitn is that feelgs about nsent n change over time, as n social standards, said Steven Blum, a magaze journalist who has wrten about age and power dynamics gay relatnships, cludg his own.

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

"Blum said young gay men n be more vulnerable than their straight unterparts bee they may be newly out and still settg their boundari.