Remembering Studds: former Massachusetts congressman Gerry Studds shocked the nation in 1983 when he came out amid a sex scandal involving an underage male page. Then he quietly became an inspiration to gays and lesbians everywhere. (IN MEMORIAM).

As a congressman from Massachusetts, Gerry Studds was famous for keeping a low profile. But that's hard to do when you're being censured by Congress for having a consensual relationship with a 17-year-old male page.

Studds, who became the nation's first openly gay congressperson after coming out on the floor of the House in 1983, died October 14 at Boston University Medical Center with his husband, Dean Hara, at his side. He had been living happily in retirement in Boston's predominantly gay South End neighborhood but had to be hospitalized after he collapsed while walking his English springer spaniel, Bonnie, 11 days earlier. He was 69.

"For 15 years Gerry and I enjoyed a life filled with love, family, and friends," Hara tells The Advocate. "I always will be grateful to Gerry for the life we had together."

Even after his dramatic coming-out, Studds tried hard to avoid the spotlight. But the spotlight recently found him once again as the media drew comparisons between his page scandal and the one currently surrounding former Florida congressman Mark Foley. "The difference with Gerry was that others [including Foley] who had problems or were censured said they were drunk or had some excuse. Not Gerry," says gay congressman Barney Frank, who still represents a Massachusetts district adjacent to Studds's old one. "He gave a lot of gay men courage. He was not only the first member of Congress to come out, but he survived."

Indeed, Studds was reelected after the scandal, serving for a total of 24 years before his retirement from Congress in 1997. Kate Dyer, a longtime friend who served as Studds's legislative assistant from 1986 to 1991, recalls working on the issue of gays in the military when the ABC show 20/20 came for an interview. Instead of having the then--20-something Dyer brief him for the cameras, Studds had her do the interview. "He never did what he did for the glory," says Dyer, now an attorney in San Francisco. "He worked on issues because they were important to his constituents, both in his district and his national constituency of gays and lesbians, and he did it without a lot of fanfare. That was his modest New England Yankee way."

Studds also was an advocate for the environment, especially as it related to the preservation of Cape Cod, a large part of his southeastern Massachusetts district. To honor his work, the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, located just off the Massachusetts coast, was dedicated in his name in 1996.

Studds and Hara were among the first same-sex couples to marry in Massachusetts in 2004, but since the federal government does not recognize their marriage, Hara has been denied Studds's spousal pension benefits, estimated to exceed $100,000 annually. Those who knew Studds say he would be terribly upset that the private details of his personal finances have been reported in the media.

Then again, maybe it's appropriate that Studds is still at the center of the struggle. "Gerry was a private person," says Dyer, "but he never shied away from a fight."

Kuhr is the editor at large of Boston-based In Newsweekly, a gay and lesbian newspaper serving New England.