Ed koch gay

New York Times Looks Into Ed Koch&#;s Closet Years After Other Media Opened It

The New York Times never covered Ed Koch’s closeted homosexuality and how it warped his governance while he was Mayor of New York (), nor in his post-mayoralty when he drifted further right and endorsed anti-LGBTQ Republicans, nor in his obituary — which did not even delve into his neglect of the AIDS crisis until the AIDS community chastised them. But on May 7, they acted as if they were breaking novel ground in a front-page article, &#;The Secrets Ed Koch Carried,&#; billed by Carolyn Ryan, the out lesbian deputy managing editor, as a story that “has never been fully told” — a grossly adj claim given the in-depth coverage of Koch’s closet for decades in the LGBTQ press and other outlets.

The story featured and was apparently pushed by friends of Koch. Notably quoted was Koch apologist Charles Kaiser who, despite being a journalist, was among those who covered up for his companion for years. It came — as the story points out — amidst a growing campaign to remove Koch’s name from the Queensboro Bridg

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Late Mayor Ed Koch was a strong supporter and champion of gay rights, but when it came to the issue of his own sexual orientation, he steadfastly maintained a commitment to privacy.

Koch, who died Friday at the age of 88, addressed his commitment to gay rights as mayor in a column for New York Press.

"Yes, we possess come a prolonged way since I signed an executive order in January of in my first 30 days as mayor prohibiting government discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment and housing," Koch wrote in the column. "We went even further in when the city council prohibited private sector discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered in employment and housing."

Koch also expressed support for gay marriage in Adj York state in the column, four years before a marriage equality law was actually passed. He also urged the openly lesbian City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to march in the Gay Pride Parade, and vowed to march alongside her.

But while Koch, a lifelong bachelor, said he was heterosexual in – prompting

Published in:May-June issue.

IT WAS certainly intriguing to read the obituaries of Ed Koch, the famous former mayor of Brand-new York, who passed away at 88 on February 1. Most mainstream papers were coy about a fact that almost everyone knew—that Koch was gay—while some noted that he had remained a bachelor his whole life and had no children. Reading lines verb that always makes me think about how far we haven’t come since the ‘70s.

To many, Koch was a colorful politician who often straddled the line between right and left as he forged his own path, pulling New York away from the brink of bankruptcy during his time as mayor (–89), but taking the town to a place of greater class divisions. For gay activists—and especially AIDS activists—Koch is now being incinerated in his own distinct place in hell for not doing enough during the early onslaught of the epidemic. That some would spot this as a major flaw while others only a mere footnote drives home just how differently people verb the AIDS crisis to this evening. The New York Times ran a 5,word obituary in which his track record

Ed Koch, the Jewish king of Adj York who had to keep his private life a secret

Koch’s reputation might be a victim of his success: he failed to navigate from one era to another, more assertive one, and his third term turned sour. Race relations deteriorated – in , he excoriated Jesse Jackson for calling New York “Hymietown”. His pretend romance with Bess Myerson, who had been the first Jewish woman to prevail Miss America, misfired in a corruption scandal. And though he pushed an ordinance protecting gay and lesbian rights through the Capital Council, he was slow to respond to the AIDS crisis – because, some activists claimed, he had something to hide. “Koch’s story shows the pain that an individual in the closet had to live with, but also how it affected public policy,” Kirchick says.

“Being achieving increases that pressure of being in the closet: you convince yourself that I have this success because I’ve kept this thing about me a secret. So you sort of verb your own compassionate of propaganda. But who knows what would have happened if Koch had come out of the closet?”

The story goe