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Connecticut state Rep. Jason Bartlett downplayed his coming out. ‘I think we’re at a time in this country that, you know, people don’t care about [sexual orientation],’ he said. (Photo courtesy of New England Blade)
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: ZACHARY VIOLETTE
COMMENTS
 
Connecticut state Rep. Jason Bartlett announced that he is gay last week, becoming the sixth openly gay member to serve in the State Assembly.
State Sen. Andrew McDonald and state Rep. Michael Lawlor are also gay.
But it’s turning out to be much less a story than it was in 1991, when the state’s first openly gay representative, Joseph Grabarz Jr., a Democrat from Bridgeport, came out.
Anne Stanback, executive director of Love Makes a Family, doesn’t think that Bartlett will have any problem working as an out legislator.
“Jason was a strong supporter of marriage in his first year and we actually had endorsed him when he ran for the first time back in 2006 and we put staff time into his race, our PAC did,” Stanback said. “We knew he was a friend of the issue and a great advocate last session. And having him be out is wonderful, but I can’t see him being a stronger advocate than he already has been because he’s been a real friend to the cause.”
In a video posted on the Danbury-based News-Times, Bartlett, who represents the Second Assembly District of Bethel, Danbury and Redding, told reporter Dirk Perrefort that he has always been prepared for his sexual orientation to become public.
“I’ve always considered my life private. It’s pretty much nobody’s business and I’ve always considered it that,” he said. ”When you’re in the public eye, people are interested in you and they’re interested in your family, just wanting to know who you are.”
His disclosure follows years of speculation, both in the blogs and during campaigns in 2002 and 2004, that he was gay.
“His announcement makes him the highest ranking African-American and openly gay politician in the United States,” Alexander Robinson, president of the National Black Justice Coalition, said in a statement. “[We] proudly congratulate Rep. Bartlett for both his courage and for his political accomplishments.”
Bartlett co-chaired the Hillary Clinton Connecticut Steering Committee.
“There’s been innuendo even in the political campaigns. Each time that I’ve run there’s been innuendo. So, you know, people will do what they will do,” he said, adding that the decision to come out was not spurred by such inspection of his personal life. “I’m doing this, because, why not now? This was my decision.”
Bartlett, 41, is a native of Redding and has two college-age sons. A self-employed businessperson, he is a member of the Bethel Youth Commission and the Bethel Democratic Town Committee, according to his legislative web site.
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