A report in the Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass., revealed that former U.S. Rep. Gerry Studds, D-Mass., the first openly gay member of Congress, quietly married his longtime partner last year after same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts, the Associated Press reported. Studds, 68, a liberal Democrat who spent more than 20 years in Congress, married Dean Hara, 47, in Boston on May 24, 2004.
First elected to Congress in 1973, Studds built a loyal constituency that returned him to Washington with an average of nearly 70 percent of the vote over 12 elections. That loyalty was tested in 1983 when it was revealed that Studds had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male congressional page. He publicly acknowledged being gay and was censured by the House for sexual misconduct. Studds admitted an error in judgment but did not apologize, and in 1984 was re-elected with 56 percent of the vote.
May 17 was the one-year anniversary of legal gay marriage in Massachusetts. More than 6,000 same-sex couples have gotten married in the past year.