Obituary: Gerry Studds

Gerry Studds

Former US Representative Gerry Studds, the first openly gay person elected to Congress, has died aged 69.

Dean Hara, who married Studds shortly after gay marriage was legalised in Massachusetts in 2004, said Studds was a pioneer who gave courage to gay people everywhere by winning re-election after publicly acknowledging his homosexuality. "He gave people of his generation, of my generation, of future generations, the courage to do whatever they wanted to do," said Hara, 49.

Studds was first elected in 1972 and represented Cape Cod, and the Islands, New Bedford, and the South Shore of Massachusetts for 12 congressional terms. He retired from Congress in 1997. In 1983, Studds acknowledged his homosexuality after a congressional aide revealed he had had a relationship with him a decade earlier, when the aide was 17.

Studds was censured for sexual misconduct by the House, then went home to his constituents to answer questions in a series of public meetings and interviews with the press. Studds defended the relationship as a consensual relationship with a young adult.

The aide later appeared publicly with Studds in support of him. Hara said Studds was never ashamed of that relationship. "This young man knew what he was doing," Hara said. "He was at [Studds'] side." Studds left Congress and became a lobbyist for the fishing industry and environmental causes.