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councilman comes out in wake of Puzzles Lounge attack

New Bedford
councilman comes out in wake of Puzzles Lounge attack

Demedeiros

At a public forum to address hate crimes in New Bedford, Mass., on Tuesday, councilman Joe DeMedeiros said he had long struggled with whether to tell the public he is gay. "I didn't walk into the room expecting to do it," DeMedeiros said. "After hearing what people had said, I felt this responsibility and obligation to do what I did." The meeting was organized in the aftermath of the February attack on three patrons at the local gay bar Puzzles Lounge.

At a public forum to address hate crimes in New Bedford, Mass., on Tuesday, councilman Joe DeMedeiros said he had long struggled with whether to tell the public he is gay, reports the local Standard-Times. He had told some friends and colleagues, but he'd never told the world until now.

"I didn't walk into the room expecting to do it," DeMedeiros told the paper. "After hearing what people had said, I felt this responsibility and obligation to do what I did."

The meeting was organized in the aftermath of the February 1 attack on three patrons at the local gay bar Puzzles Lounge by Jacob Robida, who later killed himself. In his comments, DeMedeiros told the crowd that for a politician, community leader, and a gay man to stand aside and say nothing at the forum would have been dishonest. Still, it took him "about 18 tries" to muster the courage to speak, he said. "It's a huge risk," he said. "I'd be lying if I didn't say I was nervous about the reaction."

DeMedeiros, 29, is the director of alumni relations at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and is in his third two-year term on the council, having served one of those years as council president. When asked if he thought his announcement would hurt his political future, DeMedeiros chose his words carefully. "If I said I did, I would be revealing a very poor opinion of the people of New Bedford, one that's just not accurate," he said.

Gay congressman Barney Frank said he is proud of DeMedeiros. "When I spoke to him, the first thing I did was tease him, saying I thought this was a ploy because he wants to run for Congress," said Frank. "It's not anything that's fun to do, sharing with people intimate things about himself, but it's important and unimportant at the same time. It's something important for him to be honest with people, but it doesn't affect how he does his job." (The Advocate)

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