National
‘Closet case’ Koch dead at 88
Former N.Y. mayor faulted for lackluster AIDS response
Ed Koch (Photo by Boss Tweed via Wikimedia Commons)
Former New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch, who has been credited with rescuing his city from near financial ruin while also being condemned by gay and AIDS activists for failing to adequately address the AIDS epidemic, died on Friday of congestive heart failure at a New York hospital. He was 88.
Known for his bluntness and New York style “chutzpah,” Koch served three terms as mayor, from 1978 to 1989, winning re-election by overwhelming margins while brushing off and later denying repeated rumors that he was a closeted gay man.
Before becoming mayor, Koch, a Democrat, served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1968 to 1977, representing a district that included Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. In 1975, he and then U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.) co-introduced a sweeping gay rights bill, the first such bill to be introduced in Congress.
The bill called for banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations. Like the less ambitious Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, introduced years later that covers only LGBT-related employment discrimination, the Abzug-Koch bill died in committee.
Shortly after taking office as mayor, Koch issued an executive order prohibiting job related discrimination in city government agencies based on sexual orientation.
Although he remained a gay rights supporter throughout his three terms as mayor, Koch alienated a large part of the LGBT community by what gay and AIDS activists have said was a failure to take adequate steps to address AIDS as it wreaked havoc on gay men and others in New York in the early 1980s.
New York gay journalist, TV commentator and LGBT rights advocate Andy Humm said many gays believe Koch’s status as a closeted gay man made him uncomfortable dealing with a disease that at first appeared to be impacting gay men more than any other group.
“It happens that I’m heterosexual, but I don’t care,” Koch said in a 1989 radio interview. “I happen to believe there is nothing wrong with homosexuality. It’s whatever God made you…I do care about protecting the rights of 10 percent of our population who are homosexual and who don’t have the ability to protect their rights,” he said.
“He was probably one of the most famous closet cases of all times,” Humm told the Blade.
Humm and others familiar with Koch’s record as mayor have said most LGBT activists in New York were far more concerned about Koch’s response to the early AIDS epidemic than they were about his sexual orientation.
New York gay rights attorney Bill Dobbs said that Koch’s sluggish response to AIDS prompted many in the gay community, who supported Koch on other issues, into becoming more strident and even radicalized on AIDS matters.
“In a strange way there was a silver lining that came from his lack of response,” Dobbs told the Blade. “His poor response on AIDS triggered greater activism and the creation of ACT UP.”
Among those responding were gay author and playwright Larry Kramer, one of the founders of ACT UP, the direct action AIDS group that engaged in sit-ins and protests across the country, including in New York.
In his now internationally acclaimed play about AIDS, “The Normal Heart,” Kramer’s characters refer to what they claim was the unresponsiveness of the Koch administration in the early 1980s as they struggled to create a community organization to help gay men dying of AIDS.
The Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the organization that Kramer also helped to found in real life and in which his play depicts on stage, became the first of many community-based AIDS service groups to spring up across the country.
In an email exchange on Friday, the Blade asked Kramer if he thought Koch supporters had some merit in saying that Koch faced budget and funding constraints and did what he could in the early days of the epidemic to provide some city resources to address AIDS.
“Bullshit,” replied Kramer. “Evil deeds are evil deeds.”
D.C. gay activist Peter Rosenstein, who lived in New York and worked in politics at the time Koch first won election as mayor, said he supported Abzug over Koch in the hotly contested 1977 Democratic mayoral primary. In the run-off between Koch and Mario Cuomo, who later became New York’s governor, Rosenstein said he backed Cuomo.
“Ed Koch was an enigma,” said Rosenstein. “He was an egomaniac, brash and a bully. He did some good things but was horrendous when it came to dealing with HIV/AIDS.”
Many New York political observers, however, say Koch’s overall record as mayor is considered positive for the city and most of its residents. They note that his transformation from a liberal reform politician in the 1960s and 1970s into a moderate and, on some issues, a conservative Democrat when he ran for mayor alienated many liberals, who accused him of betraying the progressive cause. When he ran for his third term as mayor, he won the nomination of both the Democratic and Republican Party in New York.
“By the usual standards measuring a former mayor’s legacy – the city he inherited, the challenges he faced, the resources available to meet those challenges and the extent to which his work endured beyond his term – historians and political experts generally give Mr. Koch mixed-to-good reviews,” the New York Times said in its obituary on Koch.
“Most important, he is credited with leading the city government back from near bankruptcy in the 1970s to prosperity in the 1980s,” the Times obituary says. “He also began one of the city’s most ambitious housing programs, which continued after he left office and eventually built or rehabilitated more than 200,000 housing units, revitalizing once-forlorn neighborhoods.”
Wyoming
U.S. attorney nominee confirmed despite anti-LGBTQ history, no trial experience
Nine felony grand jury indictments tied to Darin Smith dismissed last week
Republicans confirmed Darin Smith as U.S. Attorney for the District of Wyoming on Monday, regardless of his history as interim U.S. Attorney for Wyoming and a state senator.
While serving as interim U.S. Attorney for Wyoming — after being appointed by President Donald Trump last July despite never trying a case outside of his time as a law student intern — former state Sen. Darin Smith likely prejudiced jurors during grand jury proceedings.
Nine felony grand jury indictments tied to Smith’s tenure were dismissed last week.
Judges dismissed felony indictments against Cheyenne Swett, Richard Allen, Michael Scott Hopper, Brian Joseph Johnson, Dennison Jay Antelope, Matthew Christopher Jacoby, Matthew Miller Jr., Wolf Elkins Duran, and Jose Benito Ocon. The now-dismissed charges included felony firearm possession, drug distribution, and possession of child pornography, among other allegations.
Smith allegedly told the grand jury that the defendants were “bad guys,” described them as “murderers,” and said deliberations “won’t take long.”
Even the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming acknowledged that Smith’s comments were “ill-advised.”
Smith has a history of aligning with Trump over the Constitution and supporting anti-LGBTQ legislation.
In 2025, Smith co-sponsored House Bill 0194, titled “Obscenity amendments,” which, among other provisions, would have criminalized drag shows. The bill also would have repealed exemptions for public and school librarians from the crime of “promoting obscenity” to minors. The wording of the bill was so vague that Republican state Rep. Lee Filer said, “We will end up having to arrest somebody for allowing a child to read the Holy Bible.”
Smith also co-sponsored SF0062, a bill requiring public school students to use restrooms, sex-designated changing facilities, and sleeping quarters that align with their sex assigned at birth. In March 2025, the Wyoming governor signed the bill into law, along with its House companion.
He also attended the Jan. 6 Capitol riot alongside thousands of other Trump supporters.
“Smith was on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 … and made the reprehensible claim … that the hundreds of Capitol Police officers who risked their lives that day were guilty of ‘massive incompetence.’ Smith blames the police for what happened on Jan. 6. Without evidence, he claimed that rioters who breached the Capitol were victims of entrapment,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said. “Moreover, Smith is not remotely qualified to be a U.S. Attorney. He’s going to be in the package — take it or leave it. Prior to becoming the interim U.S. Attorney, he had no courtroom or litigation experience whatsoever. None. And Smith’s lack of experience has had real-world consequences.”
Prior to his work in the Wyoming state legislature, Smith worked as Director of Planned Giving for the Family Research Council, an organization that describes homosexuality as “harmful” to society with “negative physical and psychological health effects.”
The organization also believes that sexual orientation “should [not] be included as a protected category in nondiscrimination laws or policies, as it is not comparable to inborn, immutable characteristics such as race or sex.”
During questioning before the U.S. Senate, he denied that his work with the organization shows he has loss of impartiality when it comes to matters of LGBTQ rights.
Also questioning, Smith was asked about a now-deleted Facebook post in which he appeared to express support for Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was found to be unconstitutional in her refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses, despite Obergefell v. Hodges.
“Perhaps Hillary and Obama can share the cell with Kim Davis for refusing to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act,” the post said.
When asked why he posted it, Smith told Durbin: “I do not recall.”
Josh Sorbe, spokesperson for the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats and Durbin, said:
“Anti-LGBTQ+ extremist Darin Smith has no business serving as a top law enforcement officer in any state — let alone a state with as much history of queer importance as Wyoming. He’s an unqualified insurrectionist with no experience litigating criminal or federal matters, and his bigotry puts into serious question his commitment to upholding the law for all Americans.”
Human Rights Campaign Vice President of Government Affairs David Stacy also condemned Smith’s confirmation to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
“The justice system in America is supposed to be about ensuring the law is applied fairly and equally. But Darin Smith has spent his career obsessed with making life worse for LGBTQ+ people, opposing marriage equality, cosponsoring state legislation targeting transgender youth, and smearing LGBTQ+ people in public statements,” Stacy said. “Just over two decades after Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered in that same state, Wyoming deserves better than tired anti-LGBTQ+ hate at the helm of federal law enforcement. The Senate should reject Darin Smith and demand a nominee who will put the people — and justice — first.”
Vermont
Vt. lawmaker equates transgender identity with bestiality
Vermont Democrats condemned comments, demanded apology
State Sen. Steven Heffernan (R-Addison) equated transgender people to bestiality on the Vermont Senate floor on May 15 while debating an animal cruelty bill.
Heffernan, who was elected in 2024 to the state Senate, constructed a scenario in which a trans person is indistinguishable from someone committing bestiality.
“In these crazy times, what happens if the individual identifies as an animal having intercourse with an animal? How is the courts going to handle that?” the former member of the Vermont Air National Guard said while debating House Bill 578. “Being that we voted through Prop Four, and if it does make it through this state, and I have a gender identity that I identify as a dog and had sex with my dog, is this law going to affect me?”
State Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky (D-Chittenden Central), who presented H. 578 responded professionally.
“The bill that we are putting forward in the current law is quite clear that any act between a person and an animal that involves contact with the mouth, sex organ, or anus of the person, and the mouth, sex organ, or anus of the animal, without a bona fide veterinary purpose, will be a crime.”
In the video, Heffernan continued to ask inappropriate questions — questions that Vyhovsky answered.
“If I identify as that animal, will this be able to … It says a person. I’m not a person. I’m identifying as this animal I’m having intercourse with,” he said. “We are identifying genders, of whatever gender we decide we want to be, and I think I like this bill. I’m going to vote for this bill, but I want to make this chamber aware of what’s coming.”
Vyhovsky made a statement saying this was a planned move in an attempt to “other” trans Vermonters instead of protecting them.
“Senator Heffernan knew exactly what he was doing,” said Vyhovsky. “Sen. Heffernan is using the same dehumanizing playbook that has been used against LGBTQ+ people for generations — the false, ugly suggestion that queer and trans identity is synonymous with deviance and harm. It was wrong then and it is wrong now.”
This derogatory action at the expense of trans people appears to be part of a pattern of behavior from Heffernan in his official capacity.
In March, Heffernan left the floor right before lawmakers voted on Proposal 4, conveniently missing the bill vote. PR 4, if passed by the state’s voters in the fall, would amend the state constitution to enshrine protections against unjust treatment, including discrimination based on a “person’s race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or national origin.”
Heffernan told VTDigger at the time that he left because his stomach was feeling “agitated” and he needed to use the restroom. He said he had not made up his mind on how to vote on the amendment, largely because he’d heard from constituents urging him both to vote for and against it.
“My pizza hit at the right time, I guess,” he said, calling the timing “convenient.”
Despite his leaving — and being the only lawmaker to do so — the state Senate voted to pass it 29-0, with Heffernan marked “absent.” This came after the state House of Representatives voted to pass it 128-14 last week.
Vermont Senate Democrats condemned the statement and used the opportunity to emphasize the need for the state to pass PR 4 on Nov. 4.
“In the wake of Sen. Heffernan’s comments, the stakes of this election couldn’t be more clear,” the statement provided to the Washington Blade read. “Transgender and nonbinary Vermonters are our neighbors, our friends, and our family members. On Friday, Sen. Heffernan used his platform as an elected official representing the people of Vermont to dehumanize them. Senate Democrats will never stop fighting for dignity for all Vermonters. We demand Senator Heffernan apologize to those he has harmed with his words and actions.”
State Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale (D-Chittenden Southeast), speaking in her capacity as chair of the Senate Ethics Panel, responded to similar transphobic comments made by President Donald Trump in a White House counterterrorism strategy document last week, in which he said those with “extreme transgender ideologies” should know “we will find you and we will kill you,” stating:
“A lot of people are living in fear in this country because of what somebody with the power of the pen and the power of the military is saying every day,” Hinsdale said. “Just because [speech] is protected does not mean it is worthy of this institution, and does not mean it is worthy of the office we hold and the power that we wield in the lives of Vermonters.”
The Blade reached out to Heffernan for comment but has not heard back.
Former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) died on Tuesday. He was 86.
The Massachusetts Democrat served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981-2013. Frank in 1987 became the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay.
The Washington Blade earlier this month interviewed Frank after he entered hospice care at his Ogunquit, Maine, home where he lived with his husband, Jim Ready, since 2013. The former congressman, among other things, talked about his new book, “The Hard Path to Unity: Why We Must Reform the Left to Rescue Democracy.”
The book is scheduled for release on Sept. 15.
NBC Boston reported Frank’s sister, Ann Lewis, and a close family friend confirmed his death.
The Blade will update this article.
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