Petrelis Files

Famous Newsday Cover: 'Koch: "I'm Heterosexual"'

(March 16, 1989, New York Newsday. Image credit: Jonthan Ned Katz.)

Former New York City Mayor, closeted homosexual and AIDS criminal Ed Koch died early this morning in Manhattan. During the years when he could have done so much to prevent the then-burgeoning AIDS problem into a full-bore epidemic, he choose to do so little in order not to be lumped in with the gay men who were the majority of people contracting HTLV-111, later known as HIV.

The New York Daily News included this in their story this morning about Koch's sexuality, from his longtime nemesis:

“We must never forget that this man was an active participant in helping us to die, in murdering us,” playwright Larry Kramer wrote in 2012.

Larry, you're being too gentle!

My friend Bill Dobbs shared the images of that famous New York Newsday cover with me, along with this quote:

Koch’s rotten leadership on AIDS got a lot of gay men mad, the gay rumors added more fuel. That anger finally boiled over into a stunning wave of activism that saved lives – ACT UP/New York. Ironically, the lack of any openly gay or lesbian politicians back then probably helped the anger get even hotter.

History will not be kind to Koch and his shameful neglect and inaction on AIDS. There are too many dead bodies to count for anything other than a harsh assessment of how he ignored the epidemic.