“There’s not a lot of gay people but they probably understand that. “We might be the only Jewish people in town but they probably understand that,” Mr. They recalled stopping at a steakhouse in Amarillo for dinner one night. Reis - before kids, before dog - road-tripped to Washington through the American South, stopping in Amarillo, Tex., and swinging up through Pigeon Forge, Tenn., to see Dollywood. Polis was elected to the House, he and Mr. Politics has always required its practitioners to negotiate deals and deal-breakers, the spoken and the unspeakable.
Polis was first elected to federal office in 2008. “How would it be when we arrived in Washington? Would we be treated differently?” Mr. youth that their orientation or gender identity shouldn’t stand in the way of whatever they want to achieve in life, including public service.”īut in his own political lifetime there was good reason to think that it could. Polis said that his election - which is similar only to that of Kate Brown, the openly bisexual governor of Oregon who was re-elected last year - “can show L.G.B.T. The last gay governor, Jim McGreevey of New Jersey, stepped down after announcing both his gayness and the affair that led to his resignation. officials have served in Congress, but not many. Reis, who has generally shied away from interviews and public appearances, campaigned with him, but sparingly. Polis proposed to fund full-day preschool and kindergarten for the entire state), affordable health insurance and renewable energy, and he neither played up nor played down his sexual orientation and his family. His recent campaign for governor focused on education (Mr. “Someday,” she added, “it won’t be a reason for people to vote against you.” And that clearly came through.”Ī candidate’s sexual orientation, she said, was “not a reason for people to vote for you." He just wants to work for the citizens of Colorado. “I have great respect and affection for him but he’s not the most exciting guy in the world,” she said. Polis, stumped with him during the last month of his campaign. Reis continued, “Barney Frank actually said to Jared one day, ‘Your suit looks like you crumpled it up in your pocket for the whole day.’”Īnnise Parker, the chief executive of LGBTQ Victory Fund, which supports L.G.B.T. “All gay men are stylish, they dance well, they yada yada yada.” When they arrived in Washington, Mr. community,” said his partner, Marlon Reis, 37. “The things people assume but don’t know about the L.G.B.T. Polis was first elected to Congress in 2008, though, the usual preconceptions about gay men preceded him. This has been a much bigger deal nationally.” Polis said, “was that the voters don’t really care. Polis's gayness was “interestingly uninteresting to voters,” as the conservative columnist George F. Even in Colorado, once known as the “Hate State” for its anti-gay policies, Mr. Constituents voted for him by a more-than-10-point margin, in a state whose swing on gay rights in the last three decades can be described as a complete about-face. Bush), in a self-funded campaign that helped make the race the most expensive in Colorado history. In November, Jared Polis beat his Republican opponent, Walker Stapleton (a second cousin to Jeb and George W. It was a vision of progress captured in its unfurling: a milestone celebrated by those who saw themselves represented, even as it was also accepted by others as a matter of unremarkable course.
On Tuesday, the first openly gay man elected governor in American history was sworn in, his partner at his side.