Gerry Studds: America's First Openly Gay Congressman

Gerry Studds, America’s first openly gay congressman, fought in Congress to allow gays to serve in the military, fund AIDS research, and enact marriage equality. He was a champion of coastal and ocean environmental issues and helped to protect the American fishing industry. He was among the leading congressional opponents of President Reagan’s wars in Central America. Perhaps most importantly, he left a vivid unpublished memoir of his life as a closeted gay man in the public eye. Mark Schneider used this memoir and other items from the collection of the MHS to write the first biography of this important leader.