[Reprinted without permission from the Cambridge Chronicle,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, Thursday. December 10, 1992.]

Mayor Reeves reveals he's gay

Activists hail him as nation's first black, openly gay mayor

BY AMY MILLER
Chronicle Staff

Putting an end to what he called the "world's best-known secret,"
Mayor Ken Reeves told a group of 225 people at a gay activists dinner
that he is "a real homosexual."  "Alice may be an honorary homosexual,
but I am not an honorary homosexual. I am a real homosexual," Reeves
said Friday, after he and former Mayor Alice Wolf received the Friends
of the Community Award given by the Greater Boston Lesbian and Gay
Political Alliance.  Reeves and Wolf were recognized for their work in
passing the Cambridge Domestic Partnership Law.  In what many say is
the mayor's first public declaration that he is gay, Reeves became the
nation's first black, openly gay mayor and the state's first openly gay
mayor.

Reeves, who is also the state's first black mayor, says he made the
public statement to avoid the hypocrisy of accepting an award given to
a "friend" of the gay community, which implies he is not a part of the
community.  "To me there is something called integrity and I believe
you have to have the courage of your convictions," said Reeves. "I was
not prepared for the ultimate hypocrisy."  Over lunch at the Bennett
Street Cafe on Monday, Reeves said he was also angered enough to speak
out after reading Boston University President John Silber's recent re-
marks about homosexuality.  (See related story.)  "I've been searching
for the ingredients of Friday night and one of them was reading
[Silber's] comments that no decent parent would ever mention to his
or her child that there is something called a homosexual.  In view of
statements like that made by people potentially of some political
importance, silence is certainly not the response."

Most political insiders and members of the region's homosexual
community have known for years that Reeves is gay, but news of his
acceptance speech caused a splash of excitement among gay residents of
the area, even before it hit the press.  "It's enormously meaningful,"
said Arthur Lipkin of the Cambridge Lavender Alliance.  "I'm proud and
delighted that Ken has taken this step in being publicly out."  "I was
so thrilled.  I'm really thrilled for him," said Sue Hyde of North
Cambridge, also with the Lavender Alliance.  "I think it's always a
moment of profound catharsis for any gay person to come out.  So I'm
thrilled for him and I'm very proud I live in the city with the first
openly gay black mayor in the country.  He's a ground-breaker."

Don Gorton, chair of the board of the Greater Boston Lesbian/Gay
Political Alliance, said Reeves' openness will have repercussions far
beyond Cambridge.  "Obviously it's very empowering when a major public
official comes out of the closet.  It stirs and inspires gays and
lesbians everywhere," Gorton said, noting Reeves is the third openly
gay mayor in the country.  "The most important significance is the
example he will set for others in similar positions, in high positions,
who may be encouraged or motivated to come out by his leadership."
Reeves, however, downplayed his statement, saying he has never really
been in the closet.  "It's not a big revelation in my view," said
Reeves, despite an extended standing ovation from the audience at the
11th Annual Community Recognition Dinner.  "The truth is no one in the
press ever asked me," he told IN magazine, a New England-wide gay and
lesbian weekly.  "I don't think I'm more or less out than I've ever
been."

Lipkin and Hyde both acknowledged that Reeves had not kept his
sexuality a secret, but said the public statement was nonetheless
significant.  "I guess being out can be done in degrees," said Lipkin,
"and I guess publicly out is a category.  He wasn't really forthright
in his political life in Cambridge.  He didn't deny anything, but he
certainly didn't make any declarations.  As one who hoped he would some
day, I can only say I'm delighted."  Hyde agreed.  "The buzz is that Ken
Reeves finally has come out, in public, out loud to a group of people
not necessarily in his social circle," she said.  "Sure we all knew he
was gay, but he stood in front of 250 gay men and lesbians in front of
city hall [before the gay pride march] and never said Ich bin ein
Berliner ... He never said I'm proud to be gay."

Although Reeves has long been active in the gay community and was, in
fact, the first Cambridge mayor to march to Boston in the gay pride
parade, he realizes his more public posture may let him act as a role
model, especially for young gay people.  "There are some terrible
statistics of young people, teenagers who are gay and suicide victims
and the cause of suicide [is] some sense of isolation and feeling
there's no one is like them," said Reeves.  "I hope that the awareness
of the community that I'm also gay will help this community be a less
homophobic one and help the community see and understand that
leadership comes from a lot of different types of people and good
leadership can be black and gay and female and not gay.  It can be all
these things."

Gary Daffin of Dana Street, the first black co-chair of the Mass. Gay
and Lesbian Political Caucus, said young black homosexuals are in
special need of people to look up to.  "I think for black gay men and
women, this is a very welcome step because there aren't many role
models for African-American gay and lesbian kids," said Daffin, 29.
"One of the things that those of us who are activists talk about
consistently is the need to have more people of color out and clearly a
part of the larger gay and lesbian community."

Reeves, an attorney, said he has worked to get a Gay Men of African
Descent organized in this area, but so far no one has taken enough of a
leadership role to get it off the ground.  The 41-year-old mayor, who
has served one prior term on the council, said he recognizes he could
also pay a price for being more open, but he foresees "no price I am
not prepared to meet."  He predicted his personal and political life
will be basically business as usual.  "I think life and human relations
all boil down to if they're authentic or not and I ... haven't
changed," said Reeves, who grew up in Detroit and came to Cambridge to
attend Harvard. "I've been the beneficiary of a lot of people's love
and that's been very important.  The people who actually love you,
love you no matter what and want you to be happy and give you that room."

City Councilor Ed Cyr, one of Reeves's closest friends on the
council, said Reeves' decision is inevitably a hard one.  "In a society
that's so incredibly homophobic as this one it's always a tough
decision for someone to make.  He made it and I think people will gener-
ally respect it," Cyr said.  "I hope it's the right decision for him,
I think he knows what he's doing."  Lipkin predicted Reeves will in fact
gain political support by being open.  "I think his being closeted
was an impediment to his being embraced as warmly as he might have
been," said Lipkin, a longtime supporter of Wolf.  "I think it's a whole
new ball game now.  I don't see any possibility we wouldn't do that un-
less he cast a vote that was an anathema.  We are not a one-issue group,
but our primary issue is the welfare of gay and lesbian people.  What
he's done now for our welfare is incalculable."

Though the alliance honored Reeves regardless of his sexuality, Gorton
agreed coming out has disproportionate value to most other work politi-
cians can do for the gay community.  "It's more significant to have him
out of the closet than anything he could do in the closet," said
Gorton, a tax lawyer in Boston.  But Hyde said that "just because
you're a gay or lesbian candidate doesn't mean other gay folk will vote
for you."  She predicted, "Ken's coming out will [not] in any way hurt
Alice in terms of visible, active support."

Reeves, who said he has been gay his whole life, called his sexuality
"an integral part of who I am, as is being black and being six-foot-one."
"I knew I embodied two kinds of firsts here in Massachusetts and I
guess I had to accept the challenges of both," said Reeves.  "In 1992
you have a real responsibility to be yourself."  Last month, Weld
appointees Mitch Adams, commissioner of revenue, and Kevin Smith, sec-
retary in the office of economic development, announced publicly that
they were gay.  Elaine Noble of Cambridge, considered the first openly
gay state legislator, received an award last year from the Greater
Boston Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance.  The only two other openly
gay mayors were in Bunceton, Missouri, and Santa Monica, Calif., Gorton
said.  Reeves believes the country is becoming increasingly tolerant
under Gov. Weld and President-Elect Clinton.

"We might not have jobs for everyone and we might not have food for
everyone, but at a minimum we can give everyone a right to be who
they are.  That, after all, is freedom."

EDITORIAL: Reeves' revelation creates new challenge in city of firsts

He may not have planned it that way, but Mayor Ken Reeves, the state's
first black mayor, added another "first" to his bio Friday night when
he acknowledged publicly that he is a homosexual.  Reeves calls the
revelation the "best-known secret" in the city, noting that he has
never made a secret of his sexual orientation, but never made a big
deal about declaring it either.  He has appeared and spoken at numerous
gay and gay-supported functions over the years.  Most recently, last
Friday, the mayor and Councilor Alice Wolf accepted an award from the
Greater Boston Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance for their work on the
city's new Domestic Partnership Law, another first in the state.  For
a number of reasons, Reeves decided it was time to officially come
out of the closet.

While the city's more conservative residents may groan, the Chronicle
supports Reeves in his difficult decision to make public what many have
known and had an opinion about, or perhaps not cared about for some time.
It is a decision that puts him at risk of being ostracized by the many
people who still believe homosexuals are abnormal people.  It is not
that we should be proud that Reeves is the state's first black mayor,
its first openly gay mayor, or even the first black, openly gay mayor
who wears glasses and lives in a rent-controlled apartment.

But this is a chance for Cambridge, which has carved its niche as a
progressive city that embraces all people, to be a leader once again.
Not by championing its gay mayor or holding him up as an example of
gay people doing important jobs, but simply by reaffirming the notion
that people are people, and that being black or gay has nothing to do
with a person's ability to do a job, or to serve our city.

Last month, when the Chronicle ran a story about the new Domestic
Partnership Law and a photograph of a loving female couple, more than
one reader called to object.  One elderly caller commented, "Those
people should go back in the closet and stay there."  Though some may
consider this an unenlightened, or perhaps harmlessly old-fashioned
attitude; it is troubling that such views are still prevalent.

Apparently, it is especially troubling to a growing number of gay
teenagers who reportedly commit suicide because they suffer scorn and
ridicule from their peers, because society makes them uncomfortable
with their sexuality.

The sooner we realize that there are gay politicians and gay garbage
people, gay doctors and lawyers, gay teens and gay newspaper people,
the better off we'll all be.

"I hope that the awareness of the community that I'm gay will help this
community be a less homophobic one," said Reeves, "and help the
community see and understand that leadership comes from a lot of
different types of people."

We hope so too.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer