Newark mayor wrote in college he was 'disgusted by gays'

Getty Images: File. Cory Booker: The Newark, NJ, mayor wrote he used to hate gays in college. IMAGE

1/10/13

Cory Booker said his opinion of gays changed after learning about how the discrimination against them is similar to what his African-American grandparents endured.

NEWARK, N.J. — In a 1992 column in his college newspaper, now-Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker wrote that he was "disgusted by gays" before a transformative experience with a gay peer counselor changed his views.

The piece was reprinted Wednesday by The Stanford Daily as part of a recurring series of archived opinion pieces.

Booker wrote in his column that he "hated gays" but outwardly appeared accepting before meeting a gay man at Stanford's peer counseling group.

He said the counselor's stories of violence and verbal attacks against gays mirrored those Booker heard from his grandparents about being black.

Booker wrote he'd found kinship with the gay community and drew strength from it.

Booker, who is considering a U.S. Senate run, has been an outspoken advocate for gays and lesbians while in office.

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