Koch film’s ‘gay’ furor
By DAVID SEIFMAN,
NY PostPosted: 1:09 AM, January 14, 2013
The new documentary about Ed Koch may have ruined his friendship with a prominent gay advocate, who suggests in the movie that the former mayor is gay.
Throughout his career, and to this day, Koch has fervently refused to discuss his sexuality.
The issue comes up again in the film “Koch,” when lobbyist and longtime gay activist Ethan Geto recalls the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.
“So many people, particularly in the gay community, thought Koch was gay and that because he was a closeted gay man he wouldn’t do anything on AIDS,” Geto says in the movie.
“It would have been so incredibly invaluable for a popular mayor of New York to declare he was gay.”
Koch told The Post he was taken aback by comments from someone he once considered a friend.
“I was shocked, frankly,” Koch told The Post. “Why would he do that?”
The 88-year-old former mayor said he won’t discuss his sexuality because that would “legitimize the question” and make it harder for anyone thinking of running for public office.
