New Book Secret City Delves Into the Gay Underground of D.C.
I had the honor of speaking to him for a column on the 25th anniversary of when he came out, becoming the first Republican from Congress to do so.So many secrets during that era — the latter part of the Reagan administration and through George H.W.
Bush’s one term in office. I was far from being an influential gay man; however, a new, fascinating book confirmed the suspicions I had for years that indeed there was one big gay secret city in Washington, D.C., during that time.Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington by James Kirchick provides an in-depth and exhaustively researched account of the underground world of primarily white gay men through presidential administrations from Franklin Roosevelt’s to Bill Clinton’s.Kirchick focuses mainly on gay white men is because the country was run predominantly by white men during most of this era, he notes.“I do talk about lesbians, but women had very little political power during the Cold War era,” Kirchick points out. “It was all about white men, and women didn’t have security clearances — therefore that didn’t put them on the FBI’s radar.”Moreover, gay male sexuality was much more policed, particularly by the FBI, he explains. “Unlike gay men, women weren’t having sex in public places, and gay bars were far more likely to get raided than a lesbian bar,” he says. “There were so many more who identified as gay men than there were women who identified as lesbians.
I do talk about President Carter adviser Midge Costanza, but it was only confirmed that she was a closet lesbian after she died.
So many lesbians and gay men and their sexuality were only revealed after they died, mainly because they could be arrested and lose their jobs.”President John F.
