Ex-U.S. congressman, first openly gay lawmaker, dies at 69

Gerry Studds, the first openly gay lawmaker in the U.S. Congress, died early Saturday at Boston Medical Center at the age of 69, media reports said.

Studds was first elected to Congress in 1972, representing a congressional district of the northeastern state of Massachusetts, and had served 12 terms before retiring from the legislature in 1997.

He was censured for sexual misconduct by the House in 1983, after a congressional aide revealed he had had a relationship with Studds a decade earlier and Studds acknowledged he was gay.

Studds was the first U.S. lawmaker to acknowledge openly that he was gay.

The former Democratic congressman fell unconscious on Oct. 3 because of a blood clot in his lung and his condition deteriorated on Friday, his partner, Dean Hara, said.

Source: Xinhua