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Former Rep. Jim Kolbe, who was one of the few gay Republicans to serve in Congress, dies at 80 [1]
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Date: 2022-12-05
Kolbe was mostly known nationally for his advocacy for NAFTA until 1996, when he revealed he was gay shortly after LGBTQ groups threatened to out him following his vote for the Defense of Marriage Act. He also defended DOMA as reflecting the view of his constituents and said, “That I am a gay person has never affected the way that I legislate.” Kolbe soon told the Tucson Citizen of his announcement, “Others made the decision for me. They decided this was the time. I decided that I would prefer to make this public on my own terms, rather than have others do it for me.”
Kolbe’s declaration came two years after Wisconsin Rep. Steve Gunderson won re-election after being outed by a fellow Republican. Gunderson and Massachusetts Rep. Gerry Studds, a Democrat who was the first member of Congress to publicly identify as gay, both retired that year, which briefly left just Kolbe and Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank as the only two openly LGBTQ members in the body until Wisconsin Democrat Tammy Baldwin won in 1998. (Another colleague of Kolbe's, Florida Republican Mark Foley, would come out after resigning in disgrace in 2006.)
Kolbe, who easily won his primary and the general election in 1996 against weak opponents, largely played down the historical nature of his service, telling a GOP LGBTQ group the next year, “Being gay was not—and is not today—my defining persona.” Kolbe in 1998 faced the first serious re-election fight of his career when he went up against former Tucson Mayor Tom Volgy, a Democrat who portrayed the incumbent as too close to special interests, but he won 52-45.
Kolbe, who would publicly regret his vote for DOMA, broke with his party by co-sponsoring bills to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the military and by opposing a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. In 2004 he faced one final competitive race when he was challenged by state Rep. Randy Graf in what was now numbered the 8th District. Graf notably opposed same-sex marriage, but the challenger largely emphasized his hardline anti-immigration positions during their campaign.
Kolbe prevailed 57-43 ahead of one more easy general election contest, and he announced his retirement the next year. Graf went on to win the open seat primary, but he badly lost to Democrat Gabby Giffords after Kolbe refused to back his old primary foe.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/5/2140222/-Former-Rep-Jim-Kolbe-who-was-one-of-the-few-gay-Republicans-to-serve-in-Congress-dies-at-80
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