1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

RIP Ed Koch

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Boom_70, Feb 1, 2013.

  1. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    But if I remember correctly, because I was young. ... The tabloid stories used veiled language that essentially said, "Why is the gay mayor playing pretend with the former beauty queen?" It's the only reason I know who Bess Myerson is. ... that and I think he put her in charge of cultural affairs and she got embroiled in some kind of scandal -- maybe embezzlement?

    If he was afraid being gay was going to hurt him, it was probably strategically stupid to draw attention to it with the beard. Would have been better to just ignore it.

    It's not my business really, but the fact that he did do the make believe act, and his later refusal to come out of the closet, even when it wouldn't have made a difference to too many people, suggested to me that he might have struggled with who he was. But maybe I'm wrong. I actually hope I am.

    As for his supposed inaction on AIDS, I always found that unfair. ... It comes from Randy Shilts, I think, although I have never really heard what he didn't do that he could have done. Koch was not like Reagan, who refused to even say the word AIDs. What was Koch supposed to do in the early 80s, when a few cases started popping up? By the time it was a full-fledged epidemic, and people started understanding it better, it's not like he sat on his hands or ignored it.
     
  2. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    The slogan "Vote for Cuomo, not the homo" circulated widely in that first election.

    And I was thinking of Larry Kramer rather than Shilts as Hizzoner's nemesis on the AIDs issue.
     
  3. Abe Vigoda

    Abe Vigoda Member

    La de da. If he wanted me on the force, he could have kept me on the force. Mandatory retirement my ass.
     
  4. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I agree. But I also feel bad that I took the conversation in this direction, because out of all the things worth discussing about Ed Koch on the day he dies, this really should have been low on my list.

    By the way, someone just told me that documentary about him (the one where there were stories a few weeks ago about him calling Andrew Cuomo a putz) is being released today. That is pretty Ed Koch-like to coordinate things that way. The guy always did know how to make a splash.
     
  5. Orange Hat Bobcat

    Orange Hat Bobcat Active Member

    The New Yorker ran a Talk of the Town short on Koch and his work just last month (and because I normally fall a month behind on The New Yorker, I read it about a week ago): http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2012/12/24/121224ta_talk_singer.
     
  6. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Koch was a good man and a good mayor. He had the right temperament and attitude to be mayor. I used to run into him in the grocery store when I lived in the village, and he always struck me as unpretentious.

    But, a couple of things...

    - His last term was a disaster, plagued by corruption.

    - Yes, he needed to pretend not to be gay to win the election -- the election being the Democrat promary primary.

    - Yes, Cuomo used the unofficial slogan, "vote for Cuomo, not the homo."

    - He actually proclaimed himself straight when running in the primary vs. Dinkins.

    - Gays resented him not just for not coming out, but for the steps he took to curb the AIDS crisis. Koch ordered the gay bathhouses closed. This probably turned out to be the right measure, but many felt they were stigmatized. This was a time when the idea was just a "gay disease" was being fought very hard, and focusing strictly on gay bathhouses did not help that effort.
     
  7. Uncle.Ruckus

    Uncle.Ruckus Guest

    The Democrat promary?
     
  8. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    The "o" is right next to the "i", and I can't type for shit.
     
  9. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Two things: 1) He didn't have to pretend to be straight to win. Because EVERYONE knew he was gay. It turned him not into a guy who was fooling anyone, but the gay man pretending to be straight. 2) When they closed the bath houses, they also closed the city's heterosexual sex clubs, too -- to appear not to be discriminatory. I am not sure why that would be him not curbing the AIDs crisis in the mind of people like Randy Shilts. It's not like they were ignoring AIDs. They tried to take a public health measure to contain it. Remember, this was at a time that Ronald Reagan wouldn't even say the word AIDs.
     
  10. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

     
  11. trifectarich

    trifectarich Well-Known Member

    There rarely was a hot topic of discussion when a New Yorker could say, "Gee, I don't know which side the mayor is on." He let you know what he thought.

    RIP.
     
  12. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    True, and one of his best qualities.

    He also didn't let himself be pigeonholed into positions just because it was the party line and/or conventional wisdom. (And, in New York City, the party line and/or conventional wisdom can be pretty far out there.) He applied common sense to situations and problem solving.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page