Ed Koch, New York’s most heterosexual mayor to ever serve, might like to marry a dude one day, so he recorded this video for the time capsule you’re building.
mayor-y me
Ed Koch Makes Personal Plea To Let Him Get Married
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Stenar
“Ed Koch, New York’s most heterosexual mayor”?? You’re being sarcastic, right? Koch is a known homosexual.
Kieran
The sad truth is that had Ed Koch been an openly gay man he would never have been elected Mayor in 1970’s New York City. Just like Jim McGreevey would never have been elected Governor of New Jersey if he had been open about his sexuality. Let’s not pretend festering homophobia doesn’t exist in our culture.
Gregger
@Kieran: Ed Krotch (as he’s more commonly referred to) has been out of office for more than 20 years. He could come out with no problem or serious repercussion. Instead he continues to lie, like when he almost choked to death on a piece of pork in a Chinese restaurant while he was mayor. The restaurant said he choked on a piece of pork because he was eating and talking at the same time. The next day Ed said that he never talks with food in his mouth or eats pork as he is Jewish. The restaurant produced the check for the table showing pork and crab (also treyf) were the only things ordered by the party and the post published photos of him talking with food in his mouth.
He also won another term as mayor after running for governor of NY, when the smear slogan was chanted “Vote for Cuomo, not the Homo.”
RomanHans
I’m with Gregger. Maybe thirty years ago there was reason for him to be closeted, but, you know, we’ve got cars and electricity now. There’s clearly something wrong with the man to, at age 83, still be a life-long “confirmed bachelor.” Yeah, like coming out will really make him lose his fans.
cwlangleyNYC
I’m glad former Mayor Koch has taken the initiative to put his support on record, but also agree that it would show more support if he admitted what many gays in NYC have known for years. I personally saw him leaving the Gay & Lesbian NewFest Film Festival with a guy who he was very, very familiar with when they got into his limo that pulled up in front of the theater. They were wearing matching coats and couldn’t have looked more like a couple!
Tommy
Why does it matter if he says he’s gay or not as long as he supports marriage equality? It’s not like he’s being hypocritical and against our rights. Leave the old guy alone.
And I don’t believe he ever actually lied and said he was straight. He just declined to discuss it either way.
And there are straight people who have never been married, just like they are gay people who aren’t in long term relationships. So just because you’ve never been married doesn’t prove anything one way or the other.
ewe
It is a self esteem issue. Many people in his generation consider their homosexuality to be their “problem”. It is very sad because if someone asked him if he would be silent about being jewish the way he is about being gay, he would have a hissy fit. Being a single man not in a committed relationship does not neuter your sexual orientation Mr. Koch. Either way he is supporting the civil rights for those strong enough to be themselves.
Jim Hlavac
You know, I take care of an 88 year old WWII vet, and he’s gay. He’s still panicked about any gay talk, even if I just tell him what I post here on a gay site. He worries a lot more when I post stuff on non-gay sites. “Can someone find out?” he asks, with trepidation. And he also wonders if it won’t get worse before it gets better; and if anyone will show up at his door. He’s like Koch, a life long “confirmed bachelor,” but from a generation that was simply panic stricken at discovery, never mind discussion.
Now, here in the new millennium, when at times it seems the national discussion is all gay all the time, one thing that I see missing, or only floating around the edges, is an understanding of the differences between the generations on gay things. When I was in my 20s we had to fight for legality and still faced police raids, and were called “queer” in the newspapers; and now you guys are kissing on TV.
I’m happy for you — but some of us older guys … well, it’s a lifetime of worry behind us, and you have a lifetime of hope ahead. Makes a difference. Koch, my friend, me, we’ll never be so nonchalant about it all as you young folks are. I’m glad for that, not bitter, just wistful.
james_from_cambridge
@Jim Hlavac: That was really sad and sweet. I hope you’re happy.
kevininbuffalo
@Jim Hlavac:
Well said, thank you.
B
I thought Ed Koch’s position on questions about his sexual orientation was more or less, “it is none of your #($(#*$ business.” If he thinks he should be evaluated only on how well he ran the city, he has a valid point – his private life is irrelevant to how well he did at running a bureaucracy and balancing competing demands for limited resources. Now that he is out of office (and has been for a long time), it is even less relevant to the general public.