Ed Koch’s Loneliness and His Ineffectual Leadership on HIV
The New York Times over the weekend posted an in-depth story, “The Secrets Ed Koch Carried,” about the former mayor’s struggles with coming to terms with his sexuality.
He was from a generation that was averse to being open about being gay and chose to hide it rather than be honest about it, much to his detriment.During his time in public life, he made comments such as “I’m not a homosexual” and “I am a heterosexual.” I don’t think he fooled many people.
When he ran for mayor the first time against Mario Cuomo, campaign signs were strung throughout Cuomo’s home borough of Queens that said, “Vote for Cuomo, not the homo.” Cuomo denied he had anything to do with that.After I met Koch, I returned home, and I remember telling my partner, “That man is in his late 80s.
It must have been excruciating to hide in the closet all those decades.” I added, “I don’t know how I feel about him. In some ways I feel sorry for him, but I know that he basically hid during the AIDS crisis, and that’s a tough pill to swallow.”Back in the late ’70s, Koch, who was in his 50s by then, was in no mood to talk about the secret that he carried.
