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SLDN Statement on the Passing of Former Congressman Gerry Studds

WASHINGTON, DC – Former Congressman Gerry Studds (D-MA), the first openly gay member of Congress, passed away early Saturday in Boston, according to his husband, Dean T. Hara. He was 69.

Congressman Studds, who served twelve terms in the House, was instrumental in securing the release of a 1989 Department of Defense report on lesbian and gay personnel. The report, which DoD officials originally attempted to suppress, concluded that sexual orientation “is unrelated to job performance in the same way as is being left-or right-handed.” In addition to pressing for open service in the armed forces, Studds was a strong advocate for increased AIDS funding and same-sex marriage. He was among the first to marry his partner in 2004, when Massachusetts legalized marriage.

“Congressman Studds believed passionately in the right of lesbian and gay patriots to serve our country and he worked tirelessly to reveal the empty rhetoric that propped up the military’s exclusion of gay Americans,” said C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). “When our government attempted to suppress the truth it had learned about gay service personnel, Congressman Studds threw a bright spotlight on the facts and brought the truth to the public. He was an unwavering advocate for the freedom to serve and the rights of the LGBT community. Congressman Studds helped pioneer the cause of LGBT equality in Congress and in his private life. He will be missed.”

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