Former Nunn staffer remains troubled over 1982 firing

[canis_lupus]

From The Washington Blade:

He would rather not talk about it.

But at the request of a reporter, Ralph White Jr. this week recounted how in August 1982 then-U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) called him into his office and told him he would have to resign from his job as Nunn’s legislative assistant because White is gay. Nunn’s name has been back in the news as a potential running mate for Barack Obama.

“This is something that happened 26 years ago,” White, who still lives in Washington, said. “It’s a horrible thing for anybody to go through, and I would really prefer not to talk about it. It’s so of the past.”

White did talk about it 16 years ago, in November 1992, less than a month after Bill Clinton won election as president. At the time, Clinton was said to be considering naming Nunn to his cabinet as Secretary of Defense.

White and Greg Baldwin, another gay man who said Nunn fired him as a Senate committee staffer in 1981, agreed to tell their stories to the Blade. In interviews in November 1992, the two said they wanted to inform the gay community and then-President-elect Clinton that Nunn’s record appeared to be at odds with Clinton’s support for gay civil rights.

http://www.washblade.com/2008/6-20/news/national/12794.cfm

[xchrom]

1. i remember that so well -- it was horrifying. nt