(his companion since 1991) were married in Boston on May 24, 2004, one week after Massachusetts became the first state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage. The Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, which sits at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, is named for Studds. In 2006, the Mark Foley page scandal brought Studds's name into prominence again, as media pundits compared the actions of Foley and Congress in 2006 to Studds and Congress in 1983. Studds died on October 14, 2006, in Boston, at age 69, several days after suffering a pulmonary embolism. Due to the federal ban on same-sex marriage, Hara was not eligible, upon Studds' death, to receive the pension provided to surviving spouses of former members of Congress. Hara later joined a federal lawsuit, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, that successfully challenged the constitutionality of section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. In a 2018 lawsuit, Studds was accused of sexual misconduct toward students at Saint Paul's School in Concord, NH, while he was a teacher there in the 1960s. In August 2019, Studds was one of the honorees inducted in the Rainbow Honor Walk, a walk of fame in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood noting LGBTQ people who have "made significant contributions in their fields." See also List of LGBT members of the United States Congress List of federal political sex scandals in the United States List of United States representatives expelled, censured, or reprimanded References Further reading Johansson, Warren, & Percy, William A. Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence. Harrington Park Press, 1994. pp. 156–7 External links GLBTQ Encyclopedia "Page Program Has Seen Scandal Before", Liz Marlantes, ABC News, Sept. 29, 2006 Contributors to Studds' campaigns His 'leadership changed Mass. forever' — The Boston Globe, October 15, 2006 Gerry Studds; Gay Pioneer in Congress — The Washington Post, October 15, 2006 Annoy.com Profile: Gerry Studds Video Interview |- |- 1937 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American politicians Censured or reprimanded members of the United States House of Representatives Deaths from pulmonary embolism Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts Gay politicians LGBT members of the United States Congress LGBT people from Massachusetts People from Mineola, New York Yale University alumni 20th-century LGBT people St. Anthony Hall