Posted on 10/15/2006 5:13:02 PM PDT by madprof98
Gerry E. Studds, who championed environmental, maritime, and fisheries issues during 24 years in the US House of Representatives and lent an eloquent voice to health and human rights matters, died early yesterday.
First elected in 1972, Studds entered politics as part of a generation emboldened by its opposition to the Vietnam War and turned his focus in Congress to issues close to the hearts of his constituents. A Democrat, Studds had been reelected five times when in 1983 he became the first member of Congress to openly acknowledge he was gay.
[snip]
He publicly disclosed his sexual orientation [only] after a former congressional page, then 27, said in 1983 that he and the congressman had a sexual relationship a decade earlier, when the page was 17.
[snip]
``Gerry's leadership changed Massachusetts forever and we'll never forget him," US Senator Edward M. Kennedy said in a statement. ``
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Following are excerpts from the report of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct regarding Rep. Gerry E. Studds' (D-Mass.) relationship with a male page:
One former page testified under oath that he had heard a rumor that Rep. Studds had traveled overseas with a congressional page. He could not recall the name of the page who allegedly made the trip. In another deposition, another former page provided the name of the page rumored to have traveled overseas with Rep. Studds.
In his deposition, the male page who had allegedly traveled to Europe with Rep. Studds testified that he had visited Rep. Studds' apartment at the congressman's invitation on at least three or four occasions in 1973 and that Rep. Studds and the page had engaged in sexual activity on each of those occasions.
The page testified that in late July, 1973, Rep. Studds invited him to travel abroad during the August recess. The page agreed, and the two took a 2 1/2 week trip together abroad. According to the page's testimony, they engaged in sexual activity every two or three days during this trip.
The page was 17 years old during the time he testified that he had a sexual relationship with Rep. Studds; the relationship may have begun when the page was 16, since the page was born in the spring of 1956. At that time, Rep. Studds was 36 years old.
Two other former pages, both male, have stated under oath that Rep. Studds made sexual advances to them in 1973 while they were serving as House pages. One was 16 or 17 years old at the time of the alleged incident; the other was 17.
The special counsel's staff interviewed the former page who had traveled with Rep. Studds twice before his deposition. At each interview the page admitted traveling to Europe with Rep. Studds, but he denied that he had been sexually propositioned by the member, and he denied that there had been a sexual relationship between them.
Then, just prior to his deposition, the page took aside a member of the special counsel's staff and told him that he had not been telling the truth. He stated then, and testified under oath in his deposition, that he had a sexual relationship with Rep. Studds while serving as a House page during the spring and summer of 1973.
The page testified that another page introduced him to Rep. Studds and a group of other congressmen at a restaurant in May or June, 1973. According to the page's testimony under oath, sometime after this introduction, Rep. Studds invited the page to the representative's house in Georgetown for dinner:
Q. After you met Congressman Studds, did you and he get together again shortly after that?
A. Yes. Shortly thereafter--I am not sure how long, how long it was--but I was invited to go out to dinner with him and I did. The dinner took place at his apartment in Georgetown. Would you wish a follow-up question?
Q. The follow-up question would be what happened at that dinner?
A. Well, we sat around and talked about abstract and general questions, all types and descriptions, until four in the morning, drinking vodka and cranberry juice, at which time I was told by the congressman that he was too drunk to give me a ride home and so he said, Why don't you sleep here? and I did.
At that point, according to the page's testimony, the congressman engaged the page in sexual activity.
The page testified that the sexual relationship continued after that first night:
Q. Did you and the congressman get together subsequent to this?
A. Yes. I would imagine we had dinner three or four additional times. Specifically I do not recall. But that is in the ballpark.
Q. And did you engage in sexual activity each time?
A. Yes.
Q. When the congressman first invited you to have dinner and as you got to know the congressman, how did you feel in that environment, that a congressman was talking with you?
A. I was flattered and excited.
Q. Did you feel intimidated?
A. No, I did not. I would like to state at this time--it would probably have been better if I had stated this in my opening statement--but the congressman or the Honorable Gerry Studds was an intelligent, witty, gentle man with I think a high level of insecurity. He did nothing to me which I would consider destructive or painful.
In another time, in another society, the action would be acceptable, perhaps even laudable. Unfortunately this is not the case. I have no ax to grind with him. I have nothing negative to say about the man. In fact, I thought that he provided me with one of the more wonderful experiences of my life, if we exclude the instances of sexual experience which I was somewhat uncomfortable with. But I did not think it was that big a deal.
Q. You said you felt uncomfortable with it, did you continue with him because he was a congressman, because he was someone you were impressed with?
A. No. Well, I kept company with him because he was an intelligent man, a fun person to be with. If I could have had my druthers, I would have had the friendship that I had with the man without the sex. And I mentioned that to him.
According to the page's testimony, his sexual relationship with Rep. Studds continued during their trip together in August, 1973. The evidence does not indicate that any official funds were used for the trip. The page testified that he paid his own air fare to Europe, and a portion of the cost of meals and lodging with Rep. Studds. The page testified that his relationship with Mr. Studds ended when they returned to the United States. The page also testified as follows:
Q. Did Mr. Studds ever offer any preferential treatment or offer you any inducement to have a relationship with him?
A. No, he did not.
Q. Did he ever threaten you or coerce you if you did not have a relationship with him?
A. He did not. Essentially all I needed to do to stop the relationship was walk out the door, or not go in the door, as the case may be.
The page testified that he is not homosexual and he had not had a homosexual relationship prior to his relationship with Rep. Studds.
Do you know what he died from?
What a shame that there isn't a way for decent states to expel wretched places such as MA that have absolutely nothing in the way of moral values common to the majority of the states.
Bad meat in a can?
Why don't they just go ahead and name him Saint Gerry and get it over with?
Head trauma, obtained while walkig his dog in Boston.
That soumds like BS to me, but I read it in todays local paper.
Probably not from embarrassment....
Ever lived here?
If not, that's a bold statement.
If a "place" can be defined by its elected officials, it must be pretty bad. The MA congressional caucus must be the most repulsive gang of politicians ever to come from the same state.
Renewed publicity.
Didn't I hear he had AIDS?
Oh, give me a break.
The man was a qu-, uh, homosexual and everything he might ever have accomplished is belittled by his perversions.
And as for you, Teddy, we'll never forget you and a certain bridge and an Oldsmobile and a young girl named Mary Jo.
A pox on damned politicians, especially the perverts from Massatwoshits.
And that goes for you too, Deval Patrick and John F'n Kerry.
What is it about that place, that breeds these fools and perverts?
I used to love Mass, hey, my mom was born in Springfield.
But with all the crap coming out of there lately, I'd not care a whit if it all slid into the Atlantic.
When I read "his leadership changed Mass forever" I thought a great priest had died. Opps!
HIV VIRUS
What does the "National Association of Marlon Brando Look Alikes" have to do with this?
California will give em a run for their money as being a disgusting political arena.
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