Moving On

NY State Senator Calls It Quits

Gay-rights champion for 20 years.

Thomas K. Duane, the first openly gay member of the New York state Senate, will announce Monday that he’s ending his legislative career. Duane came onto the New York political scene about 20 years ago, when he ran a successful campaign for New York City Council during which he disclosed to the public that he was HIV-positive. Duane isn’t giving up his coveted Senate seat—his district runs from the Upper West Side down to Greenwich Village and across the East Village—for another job or because of his health. He is simply sick of commuting. “It’s not that Albany isn’t a lovely place, but it’s not home,” he told The New York Times. “I always knew that I was going to have another chapter in my life, and it’s time for me to start that new chapter.”