Meet Jeff Lewis, the Gay Man Who Is N.Y. Gov. Hochul's Chief of Staff

Contents:

• JOHN LEWIS SAW GAY RIGHTS A MOVEMENT LIKE CIVIL RIGHTS
• IS JOHN LEWIS GAY?
• PRIDE TV: THE QUIET GAY HEROES OF SIXTIES SITCOMS
• JONATHAN D. LEWIS, GAY ACTIVIST AGAST PROP. 8 AND DADT, DEAD AT 64
• AT A CROSSROADS ON GAY UNNS
• JOHN LEWIS GAY

JOHN LEWIS SAW GAY RIGHTS A MOVEMENT LIKE CIVIL RIGHTS

”A few weeks later, after a state Supreme Court lg, Massachetts beme the first state to regnize gay was an ally of the gay rights movement long before that, said Cathy Woolard, a former Atlanta Cy Council print. She beme the first openly gay elected official Geia when she was elected the early and mid-1990s, Woolard lobbied for the LGBTQ advocy group the Human Rights Campaign.

It was the era of the ary’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, when the gay muny had few alli Washgton, even among Democrats. ”In his 1998 memoir “Walkg wh the Wd, ” Lewis said his nnectn wh the gay muny sprang om his experience of beg treated unequally a Black “simply bee you are different om the long-entrenched whe Anglo-Saxon Prottant standard that fed and ntrolled our society for s first two hundred years. ”ExploreLewis found himself a nfsor to those repentg of racismLewis’ endorsement of gay marriage me at a time when the public and most relig and elected officials were not supportive or were openly 1996, Print Bill Clton signed a bill fg marriage as a unn between one man and one woman, after sailed through both chambers of Congrs wh the support of Republins and most Democrats.

IS JOHN LEWIS GAY?

All Geia lawmakers but two, Lewis and Democrat Cynthia McKney, voted 2004, more than 76% of Geians voted to adopt a state nstutnal amendment that banned gay issue divid Lewis om some of his civil rights peers. Others said that the stggle for gay rights was not the same as the fight for racial equaly.

PRIDE TV: THE QUIET GAY HEROES OF SIXTIES SITCOMS

A month after Geians adopted the nstutnal amendment, the late Bishop Eddie Long, senr pastor of New Birth Missnary Baptist Church Lhonia, led thoands of Atlantans on a march through Sweet Auburn opposn to gay rights. ExplorePhotos: John Lewis through the yearsKg himself never openly spoke about gay rights the 1950s and 1960s, but Lewis ced his mentor’s stance on terracial marriage – “Rac don’t fall love and get married. Supreme Court’s gay marriage cisn 2015, Bernice Kg, who had been appoted the CEO of the Kg Center, issued a statement wishg for the lg to enurage “the global muny to rpect and embrace all LGBT global cizens wh digny and love.

”Lewis’ support meant a lot to members of Atlanta’s gay muny the 1990s and 2000s, pecially when was hard to fd support even among one’s own relativ, said Anthony Antoe, an HIV activist. “Havg such a proment activist lear so supportive of not jt my gay life but my Black gay life… mattered so much, ” said Antoe, who anized several LGBTQ march the early 2000s, cludg one prottg the Long-Kg ’ early support and ntug prence at some LBGTQ events, cludg the annual October para Atlanta Pri, gave the movement nfince that uld acplish the difficult tasks ahead, Antoe felt like, “what n’t we change?

JONATHAN D. LEWIS, GAY ACTIVIST AGAST PROP. 8 AND DADT, DEAD AT 64

Jt like many other celebri, has always been speculated the qutn - John Lewis is gay? Yet, as often happens wh artists of this field, the mors that John Lewis is gay are persistent, which is surely annoyg.

The g out of John Lewis would greatly benef lns of homosexuals all over the world who are still the closet. Celebri such as John Lewis never have admted they are homosexual, this is bee they are fely not gay or bee they are and don't want to go public. But Lewis was also a stnch and early fenr of LGBTQ rights, havg sponsored more than a dozen bills throughout his reer as a lawmaker to protect and advance the rights of LGBTQ those bills was the Equaly Act, which prohibs discrimatn based on sexualy or genr inty, and of which Lewis was a lead sponsor, as well as the Rpect for Marriage Act, which aimed to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and legalize same-sex 1996, Lewis livered an impassned speech agast DOMA on the floor of the Hoe, a rare showg of public support for marriage equaly at a time when about two-thirds of Amerins opposed lettg gay upl marry, acrdg to a Pew poll.

"It ni gay men and women the right to liberty and the pursu of happs.

AT A CROSSROADS ON GAY UNNS

Wh this year’s Gay Pri Month markg the fiftieth anniversary of the uprisg at the Stonewall Inn Greenwich Village, the acplishments of LGBT hero of the past fifty years have been wily celebrated.

JOHN LEWIS GAY

But along wh polil activists and social revolutnari, there were a number of entertaers who, the s surroundg the rebelln, brought a clear, if often exaggerated, gay prence to Amerin hom.