Was 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 fresh 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 negligent 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 friend for years. It came — as the story points out — amidst a growing campaign to remove Koch’s verb from the Queensboro Bridg

NYC Mayor Koch - Being a gay politician in a homophobic era

The Secrets Ed Koch Carried

Quote:

Edward I. Koch looked like the busiest septuagenarian in New York.

Glad-handing well-wishers at his favorite restaurants, gesticulating through television interviews long after his three terms as mayor, Mr. Koch could seem as though he was scrambling to fill every hour with bustle. He dragged friends to the movies, pursuing a side career in film criticism. He urged new acquaintances to call him “judge,” a joking reference to his time presiding over “The People’s Court.”

But as his 70s ticked by, Mr. Koch described to a few friends a feeling he could not shake: a deep loneliness. He wanted to meet someone, he said. Did they know anyone who might be “partner material?” Someone “a little younger than me?” Someone to produce up for lost time?

“I want a boyfriend,” he said to one confidant, Charles Kaiser.

It was an aching admission, shared with only a few, from a politician whose brash ubiquity and relentless Fresh York evangelism help

What would Ed Koch have thought?

The Modern York Times ran a long story last week, an expose really, dragging former New York Noun Mayor Ed Koch out of the closet. Koch, who died in , denied his homosexuality throughout his life.

The article seems to have excited a certain amount of controversy, less because Koch was gay than because of the Times’ decision to out him now. The story wasn’t exactly breaking news. Rumors about the mayor’s sexuality swirled around him for most of his long political life.

The question I kept returning to was what would Ed Koch have thought of the story? Would he have been indignant, mortified, relieved? Would he have issued one more denial or obfuscation? Would he respond that it was nobody’s damn business, as he sometimes did, or finally come out?

My memories of Ed Koch date back to adj school when he’d greet voters as they entered or emerged from the Central Park West and 72^nd Street subway station while I waited for the crosstown bus to school. If a teenager was tempted to consider there was glamor to public service, the indifference with which m

Ed Koch, the Jewish king of New 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 bitter. 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 triumph Miss America, misfired in a corruption scandal. And though he pushed an ordinance protecting gay and lesbian rights through the City 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 successful increases that pressure of being in the closet: you convince yourself that I possess this success because I’ve kept this thing about me a secret. So you sort of think your own kind of propaganda. But who knows what would have happened if Koch had approach out of the closet?”

The story goe