Jim Kolbe, Out Republican Congressman, Dies At 80
Jim Kolbe, a Republican congressman who came out as gay in 1996 and was reelected several times, died Saturday aged 80, according to Advocate.
According to the Arizona Daily Star Kolbe died as a result of a stroke. He represented a district centered on Tucson in the US House for 11 terms. He was first elected in 1984, and in 2006 he decided not to run again.
His coming-out was spurred by outrage over his vote in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal government recognition of same-sex marriages and allowed states to deny recognition to such marriages performed in other states. DOMA was passed and signed into law, but it has since been invalidated by the Supreme Court.
He came out in August 1996 and was reelected in November of that year, as he was four more times.
He voted for DOMA because, he said, every state should have the right to define marriage as it saw fit. When he finally came out, he said there was “some relief” and “no embarrassment” in doing so.
Kolbe was a champion of free trade but also of environmental preservation, and he eventually called the Republican Party’s opposition to marriage equality and abortion rights “a terrible mistake.”
“As much as the social conservatives might not like to hear it, there will be a time when your grandchildren say: ‘What was the argument with same-sex marriage? Who cares?’” he told the Tucson Citizen in 2006.
He came to regret his vote for DOMA, and in 2013 he married his longtime partner, Hector Alfonso. The two men married in Washington, D.C., because Arizona did not allow same-sex marriage at the time.
“He belongs to so many people,” Alfonso told the Arizona Daily Star Saturday. “He gave his life for this city. He loved Tucson, he loved Arizona.”
Image Credit: Pixabay
Kolbe left the Republican Party in 2018 because of Donald Trump. He became an independent and in 2020 said he would vote for Democrat Joe Biden for president. The Republican Party had “become a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump operation,” he said in an interview that year.
“We need a thriving two-party system in this country,” he said in an interview in 2021. “I’m sad and frustrated that Republicans today have lost their way. My hope is that the party goes back and fights for the basic Republican Party issues I support; less government, lower taxes, free trade, balanced budget, an immigration policy that allows people to come into this country, and a strong national defense. In order to flourish, our country needs less polarization and more rationalization.”
Among those memorializing Kolbe was a gay Democratic congressman, David Cicilline, chair of the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus. “As an out gay man in Congress in the late 1990s and 2000s, Jim Kolbe affirmed to the American people and gay men across the country that there was a place for them in the halls of Congress,” he said in a press release. “He served his constituents, Pima County, and Arizona with dedication and integrity. Congressman Kolbe made history as the first openly LGBTQ+ veteran in Congress, and he helped pave the way for me and so many of my LGBTQ+ colleagues. My thoughts are with his partner, Hector Alfonso, and all his loved ones as they mourn his loss.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, released a complimentary statement about Kolbe as well: “Congressman Kolbe first came to the Capitol as a teenager to serve as a Page for Senator Goldwater – so it was fitting when he returned to Washington in 1985 to represent his beloved home state in his own right. Here, he often reached across the aisle to uphold his values, from protecting women’s health freedom to reforming our immigration system, and especially conserving Arizona’s beautiful lands and cultural wonders. His courage to become only the second openly gay Republican elected to Congress was admired by many of his colleagues and countless Americans.”
Read related myGwork articles here:
Sean Patrick Maloney New York’s First Openly Gay Congressman
LGBT+ Inclusive Anti-Bullying Bill Introduced By Congressman
Philippines Congressman Pushes Through Second Attempt at Same-Sex Civil Partnerships
Republican Congressman Wants to Strip PBS of Funding for Airing ‘Arthur’ Gay Wedding Episode
Keep up to date with the latest myGnews
