Veteran gay journalists critical of late New York Mayor Ed Koch's 'lifetime in the closet'

New York's late former mayor, Ed Koch, is being buried Monday and several leading gay journalists have given him quite a send-off:

Andy Humm, Gay City News:

Ed Koch: 12 Years as Mayor, A Lifetime in the Closet

Ed Koch, New York’s mayor from 1978 through 1989, a period of enormous change for the LGBT movement, including the beginning and some of the worst years of the AIDS crisis, died on February 1 of congestive heart failure.

He was 88 years old and died without ever publicly acknowledging his homosexuality. And his inaction during the crucial early years of the AIDS pandemic –– which emerged in 1981 on his watch –– has never been forgiven by large numbers of gay men and others who lost so many loved ones and friends to the virus.

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Michelangelo Signorile, editor-at-large, HuffPost Gay Voices:

Ed Koch and the Corruption of the Gay Closet

To those who claim we suffer no ramifications from closeted public figures, I offer Exhibit A of how the combination of the closet and power corrupts: Edward I. Koch, mayor of New York City from 1978 until 1989 and widely assumed homosexual, who died on Friday at the age of 88. At this very moment, there are closeted gay politicians in Washington and across the country voting against gay rights in part to cover for themselves, driven by personal ambition. They are dangerous individuals, wielding power while harboring a secret they're pathologically afraid will out itself, abusing and terrorizing those close to them as well as many others. Ed Koch is a possible example of the extremes to which they will go.

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Rod McCullom in Ebony:

The True Legacy of Ed Koch

Former New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch died Friday of congestive heart failure. The 88-year-old often greeted constituents with the phrase "How'm I doin'?"—and in the two days since his death, a significant amount of kilobytes, ink and virtual chatter has been devoted to Koch’s legacy. The combative former three-term mayor has been generally credited with reversing the city’s  “fiscal and infrastructure challenges” that dominated the 1970s. The former congressman served three terms until David Dinkins defeated him in the 1989 Democratic primary and became the city first—and so far, only—Black mayor.

But by the 1980s, Koch left a disturbing legacy on two key issues that have defined America: Race relations and HIV/AIDS.

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Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch dies at 88

• Michael Musto: Poor Ed Koch Died In The Closet

Ed Koch, New York City's limelight-loving mayor from 1978-89, died early Friday morning at 88.

From his Associated Press obit:

Koch was a champion of gay rights, taking on the Roman Catholic Church and scores of political leaders.

During the 1977 mayoral campaign against Mario Cuomo, posters that read, "Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo" mysteriously appeared in some neighborhoods as Election Day approached.

A lifelong bachelor, Koch offered a typically blunt response to questions about his own sexuality: "My answer to questions on this subject is simply, 'F-- off.' There have to be some private matters left."

In 2009, Koch was one of the celebrities featured in the documentary Outrage, a film about closet gay politicians. At the time, The New York Post reported:

ED Koch is upset over a new documentary, "Outrage" -- not because it claims he had "a well-established affair with a man he subsequently ran out of town," as Variety reported yesterday, but because it claims "his record on AIDS and gay rights was virtually nonexistent."

Click here to read the complete AP obituary.

Michael Triplett, president of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) dies at 48

Posted to the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) website:

NLGJA mourns the loss of our friend and leader, NLGJA President Michael Triplett, who passed away January 17, 2013 after a courageous battle with cancer.

While Michael only served as president for a few short months, he has been a member of our leadership team for several years, first as a Washington, D.C. chapter board member and president and then as a national board member and vice president for print. His quiet demeanor masked a steely resolve and an uncanny ability to push our organization forward. Michael quickly became someone who could be relied on both to provide sage advice as well as the time and energy to help us accomplish our goals.

Michael was the assistant managing editor at Bloomberg-BNA, where he used his legal background to develop and lead reports on tax and labor policy, as well as grooming journalists around the world. NLGJA members often called on Michael to provide a legal perspective to policy issues and governance, and he frequently sat on panels covering legal issues at NLGJA conventions.

Michael played an enormous role in our joining UNITY: Journalists for Diversity in 2011 and was one of our first representatives to the UNITY board. There, he worked with members of our partner groups to fully incorporate sexual orientation and gender identity into UNITY’s mission.

He also helped our organization connect with members as a principle contributor to the NLGJA RE:ACT blog.

Michael was truly a joy for all of us to work with, and his loss will be felt among our organization for years to come. Our thoughts and prayers are with his partner, Jack and his family in Alabama.

The NLGJA board will meet in the coming days to elect an interim president, as well as to determine the best way to honor Michael’s memory. But for now, we pause to remember our friend and an enormous contributor to our recent growth and success.

Aaron Swartz, Reddit co-founder who hanged himself in New York, wrote about sexual identity

Aaron Swartz, a co-founder of Reddit who helped create RSS, hanged himself on Friday in Brooklyn, N.Y.

On Sept. 8, 2009, Swartz posted an entry on his personal blog titled, "Why I Am Not Gay." He concluded his post about sexual identity and culture with this:

So that’s why I’m not gay. I hook up with people. I enjoy it. Sometimes they’re men, sometimes they’re women. I don’t see why it needs to be any more complicated than that.

Here's the Associated Press report about Swartz's death at 26:

Reddit co-founder dies in NY weeks before trial

BY VERENA DOBNIK, ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- The family of a Reddit co-founder who committed suicide weeks before he was to go on trial on federal charges that he stole millions of scholarly articles is blaming prosecutors for his death.

Aaron Swartz hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment Friday night, his family and authorities said. The 26-year-old had fought to make online content free to the public and as a teenager helped create RSS, a family of Web feed formats used to gather updates from blogs, news headlines, audio and video for users.

In 2011, he was charged with stealing millions of scientific journals from a computer archive at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in an attempt to make them freely available.

He had pleaded not guilty, and his federal trial was to begin next month. If convicted, he faced decades in prison and a fortune in fines.

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Bill McBride, Florida gubernatorial candidate defeated by Jeb Bush in 2002, dies at 67

Democrat Bill McBride, a strong supporter of gay rights who ran for Florida governor in 2002 against incumbent Jeb Bush, died suddenly on Saturday at age 67.

"He was always a promoter of equality," said McBride's wife, Alex Sink, adding that her husband championed survivors of the Rosewood racial massacre, pro bono legal work and gay rights. "He was always promoting more minorities in the law."

Click here to read McBride's Associated Press obituary.

Click here to read an obituary written by Steve Bousquet of the Herald/Times Tallahassee bureau.

Stephen Chalbaud: 1963-2012 | Model and 'star volunteer' for gay Task Force, other organizations

Sad news from Pietro Bonacossa: "My special friend and living partner Stephen became a real angel last week, leaving a deep sense of loss for many of us."

Here is the obituary for Stephen Chalbaud, which is scheduled to run Thursday in The Miami Herald:

Julio "Stephen" Chalbaud, resident of Miami Beach, left this worldly life for eternal peace on December 12, 2012 at the young age of 49. He is now our guardian angel and will be deeply missed by family, friends, colleagues and loved ones.

Stephen was born on September 18, 1963 in San Francisco. He moved to Venezuela as a young child and then to Dallas where he spent his formative years. His real home and heart, however, was in Miami Beach. A beautiful man inside and out, Stephen left a successful career in the modeling world to dedicate his life towards helping those less fortunate.

He spent many years working at Best Buddies and recently did volunteer work for Miami Children's Hospital, Safe Schools South Florida and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, just to name a few.

He had a heart of gold and showered everyone around him with love, kindness, affection, encouragement, understanding, compassion and support.

Stephen is survived by his parents Julio and Gay, his sisters Angela and Debra, his nieces Hayley and Ginger, his nephews Matthew and Joseph, his brothers-in-law Jeff and Thomas, his best friends Dan, Scott, Francisco & Brett, Craig & Rafi, Hector & Ricardo, Brian, Jim & Joseph, Joe & Kevin, Wayne, David, his friends Vince & Ross, Martin, Brandon, John, Carlos, Dave, Liebe, Laura, Tracy, his special friend Pietro and many other dear friends and relatives.

In lieu of flowers, we ask that you consider making a donation in Stephen's memory to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (http://www.thetaskforce.org/donate/honor), an organization where he was regarded as a star volunteer.

Winter Party volunteer Tim Ribar found dead

Photographer Tim Ribar, a longtime volunteer for both Winter Party and the Miami Recognition Dinner, was found dead last weekend inside his Fort Lauderdale apartment.

Little is known of the circumstances, according to publicist Richard Murry.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has released this statement.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is saddened to learn of the unexpected passing of Tim Ribar over the weekend. Tim was a long-time volunteer for both Winter Party Festival and the Miami Recognition Dinner and his generous contributions to those events will be deeply missed.

Few details are known about Tim’s passing at this time, or about service arrangements, but we will share this information once it becomes available.

We will all miss Tim as a Task Force colleague and friend after his many years of passionate service to the organization. A tribute to Tim’s memory will be planned during Winter Party Festival.

Tony Goldman, pioneering developer who helped transform South Beach and Wynwood, dies at 68

BY DAVID SMILEY AND DOUGLAS HANKS, DHANKS@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Tony Goldman, a pioneer in turning South Beach from a drab retirement spot to one of the country’s hippest hotel districts and who played a central role in reviving Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood as an arts destination, died Tuesday at 68, a family spokeswoman said.

Goldman died of heart failure at a New York hospital after a long bout with lung maladies, said Susan Brustman, a longtime Goldman publicist. His family was with him when he died, she said.

Brustman released a statement from the family that read: “To the community he touched, he was a transforming, once in a lifetime figure. To us, he was a devoted husband, wonderful father and doting grandfather.”

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Comedy icon Phyllis Diller dies in her sleep at 95

BY SANDY COHEN, ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES -- Phyllis Diller, the housewife turned humorist who aimed some of her sharpest barbs at herself, punctuating her jokes with her trademark cackle, died Monday morning in Los Angeles at age 95.

"She died peacefully in her sleep with a smile on her face," her longtime manager, Milton Suchin, told The Associated Press.

Diller suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 1999. The cause of her death has not been released.

She was a staple of nightclubs and television from the 1950s - when female comics were rare indeed - until her retirement in 2002. Diller built her stand-up act around the persona of the corner-cutting housewife ("I bury a lot of my ironing in the back yard") with bizarre looks, a wardrobe to match (by "Omar of Omaha") and a husband named "Fang."

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Dale Olson dies at 78; was publicity agent for Rock Hudson when movie star revealed he had AIDS

BY ELAINE WOO, LOS ANGELES TIMES

LOS ANGELES - Dale Olson, an elder statesman of the Hollywood publicity corps whose assignments over a four-decade career included representing Rock Hudson during the last months of the actor's struggle with AIDS, died Thursday of complications of liver cancer. He was 78.

Olson, who lived in the Hollywood Hills, died at a nursing facility in Burbank, said his spouse, Eugene Harbin.

A savvy promoter of Oscar-worthy movies, Olson helped craft campaigns for stars such as Maggie Smith in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969), Shirley MacLaine in "Terms of Endearment" (1983) and Robert Duvall in "Tender Mercies" (1983).

During 18 years at Rogers and Cowan, he rose to head the agency's motion pictures division, leaving to run his own Beverly Hills publicity firm, Dale C. Olson & Associates, in 1985.

That year, Olson found himself in the middle of a media storm when reporters began raising questions about Hudson's health after the actor appeared shockingly gaunt at a public appearance with his former leading lady, Doris Day.

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