Voting Station

Gerry Studds

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U.S. Congressman

The Resume

    (May 12, 1937-October 14, 2006)
    Born in Mineola, New York
    New Hampshire state coordinator for the presidential campaign of Eugene McCarthy (1968)
    Congressman from Massachusetts (1973-97)
    Democrat
    Descendant of Vice President Elbridge Gerry
    At left in the profile picture

Why he might be annoying:

    He was censured by the House for having an affair with a 17-year-old male page (1983).
    He also admitted to having made advances towards two other pages.
    He had an unfortunate last name for a politician in a sex scandal (if not quite as open to bad puns as, say, Bob Packwood).
    He was a somewhat reluctant gay rights leader, with activist Victor Basile commenting, ‘He did all the Human Rights Campaign things, but I was never sure he was happy doing them.’
    After leaving Congress, he became a lobbyist for the fishing industry.

Why he might not be annoying:

    In testimony to investigators, the page said their relationship was consensual and without coercion. (And legal, since the age of consent in the District of Columbia was sixteen.)
    Unlike earlier Congressmen caught in gay sex scandals, he came out of the closet.
    He was accessible to constituents, visiting each town in his district at least once a year.
    He called the ‘Star Wars’ Strategic Defense Initiative ‘the Edsel of the 80s.’
    When a constituent asked him if he was still a ‘practicing homosexual,’ he replied, ‘No, as a matter of fact. I think I’m pretty good at it.’
    After his death, his husband, in order to receive the pension for spouses of members of Congress, joined the lawsuit that overturned the Defense of Marriage Act.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 104 Votes: 51.92% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 20 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 15 Votes: 46.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 90 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 25 Votes: 52.00% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 19 Votes: 68.42% Annoying