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Today, June 30th, marks the last day of Pride Month for 2026. To commemorate the final day, I want to talk about Key West Florida! That’s right everyone, if you didn’t know, Key West has an important role in the story of gay history in American. This tiny island (image from FrankosMaps) has never held more than 40,000 permanent residents at any given point. However, its impact on gay culture cannot be overstated.
For today’s article, I want discuss the era of the 1970s and 1980s, when Key West became a haven for LGBT Americans who sought a city they could live in safely and openly. A great migration of gay Americans made their way to the Keys, leading to shifting demographic and politics. As a culmination of this, Richard Heyman would make history in 1983 as Florida’s first openly gay Mayor.
This article is going to look at how Key West became a gay destination, how it shifted Key West politics, and how Heyman made history.
Lets dive in!
Key West’s Island Culture & History
The Florida Keys has a very rich and fascinating history. I will not dwell to much on every aspect here, but you really cannot go wrong picking up any book or documentary on the subject. You will be entertained. Key West specifically has been the home to countless different peoples and communities that all called the island home at one point. In my opinion this PBS documentary does an excellent job compacting a lush story into a solid hour of viewing.
The Florida Keys, and Key West specifically, have been inhabited off and on for centuries. Native tribes, namely the Calusa and the Tequesta, would populated the region off and on before the 1800s. However, due the rough terrain, lack of fresh water and little ability to grow crops, the keys never had permanent settlements.
After the Keys came into American possession in the early 1800s, the only notably inhabitants were military outposts off and on, as well as pirates. The island’s location in the Gulf of Mexico’s shipping routes made piracy and smuggling a major issue, which spurred the growing military presence. As merchants and military made their presence in the area, the city was formally incorporated in 1828.
Through the 1800s, Key West was always a world apart from the rest of the Florida territory and eventually the Florida state. The initially inhabitants of the island were often individuals from the Bahamas, namely those of European descent. These “white” Bahamians, many who came to the keys to make money in trade and treasure recovery from sunken ships, form the foundation for the people’s known as Conchs. These days, anyone who is born in Key West takes up the mantra of Conchs.
Key West was also unique when it came to racial politics. While the island was part of the slave-state of Florida, and had a slave population before the Civil War (though less than 600 total), it also had a large free Black population. A combination of freed slaves and Black Caribbean migrants meant that around 20% of the Black population was free; likely the highest percent anywhere else in Florida. While the Civil War went on, Key West remained in Union hands thanks to the already existing military presence, which was based at Fort Zachary Taylor; which was located at the southwest end of the island. Over the course of the war, escaped slaves would flee to the Florida Keys. In the time after the war, even into Jim Crow, Black Key West residents were less suppressed, at least socially, than in much of the mainland of the state. To this day in Key West, many of the Black residents trace their ancestry to this original population. The neighborhood of “Bahama Village” remains a racially diverse community to present day.
Key West’s closeness to Cuba, which sat just 90 miles to the south, also made it an attractive destination for Cuban traders. Through the mid to late 1800s, Key West would become the site of the first major Cuban-American community settlement in Florida. With this, the Cuban Cigar industry made its way to Key West. While Cuba was initially the “Cigar Capital of the World” - more of the industry began to be lured over to Key West, especially as the Spanish colonial administrators further cracked down on independence movements. The famous Cuban revolutionary, Joe Marti, spent many years in Key West. Cuban independence pushers would often use Key West as a hide out when they had to flee Spanish authorities. These revolutionaries also found support from another refugee group - Jewish people.
Over the course of the late 1800s, Jewish migrants, many fleeing anti-Semitism in Europe, made there was to the Florida Keys. This included American Jews at well, who left growing anti-Semitic waves that ebbed and flowed in the North. In fact, it was German Jewish immigrant Samuel Seidenberg, who initially had worked in the Cigar industry in NYC, that made his way to Key West to establish a Cuban cigar shop on the island. It was Seidenberg and other merchants that kicked off the wave of Cuban cigar works to come to Key West. Throughout the late 1800s, the Cuban and Jewish communities were closely tied together. Jewish merchants often supporting Cuban revolutionaries with funds and political support as they fought for independence from the Spanish.
The picture I want to paint here is and island community of mixed cultures, races, and religions. The Keys became an area for all comers who wanted to establish a new life for themselves. Of course nothing was perfect and racial strife would ebb and flow. However, compared to much of the country, and especially the American South, Key West was a place to be if you favored live-and-let-live diversity. By the end of the 1800s, Key West was Florida’s most populated city.
The good times would not last, however. Economic depression would hit the island in the 1920s and 1930s. While the Great Depression obviously had a major impact, things took a downhill slide in the 1920s. The major cause was the cigar industry moving its way up to Tampa, which had more resources for starting and completing the cigar process in one location and getting them out to port for sale. Between 1920 and 1930, the city went from 19,000 residents to just 12,000; a 31% drop. People were leaving the island as economic opportunities dried up. Then, the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane wiped out the famous Flagler Key West railroad, further isolating the island.
Key West would spent the 1940s through 1960s only growing thank to military presence, especially during WWII and the early Cold War. However, the city largely developed a reputation as a tourist destination that would virtually “close down” in the off season of travel. When the military presence also began to shrink as the 1960s ended, economic stagnation and decline only further gripped the city.
The Great Gay Migration
The 1970s would usher in a new era for Key West with a decade marked by a mass influx of LGBT citizens and visitors to the island. The chain of events began as early as the WWII era as prominent gay socialites like Tennessee Williams and Leonard Bernstein visited the island and praised it for its weather and live-and-let live nature. Williams would eventually move to the Island and more and more gay intellectuals made trips and travel to the area; increasing the allure with the broader gay community. The island had a great deal of appeal, as this passage from “How the Gays Saved Key West” sums it up perfectly.
The fact that it was difficult to get to Key West made the destination all the more alluring for the LGBTQ culture. Back when gay life existed in a parallel universe separate from jobs, birth families and a harshly intolerant mainstream society the LGBTQ community opted to vacation in out-of-the-way destinations like Key West. By the 1970s the stream of gay visitors to the island had turned into a torrent with more than 30 same sex guest houses on the small island catering to gay men. Interestingly there were fewer lesbian visitors despite the residency of notable gay poet Elizabeth Bishop.
By the early 1970s word had begun to filter north throughout gay culture that Key West was one of the few truly accepting, come-as-you-are, quirky, fun places in the world where LGBTQ people could express their creativity, their freedom, their love.
Indeed LGBT culture in Key West at this time was much more dominated by gay men. As the 1970s continued, the flow of gay residents to the island did not decrease. Word continued to spread that Key West was a prime location that you could move to and be as you were - with no need to remain in the closet. Images, like the one of Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams enjoying their time in Key West, spread across LGBT social circles.
As these individual and couples made their way to the island, the contributed to an economic rebounding - buying up old properties and restoring them into homes and businesses. In 1978, the Key West Business Guild was formed by local gay residents who worked to bring in tourism and businesses to the island.
With this migration, the economics of the island improved greatly. Estimates vary, but it is believed that by the early 1980s, over 20% of Key West’s population was LGBT. Within “Old Town” - which is the western half of the island and where many of the old houses/businesses had been bought by newly arrived gay residents - the estimates are as high as 30%. For context, this is higher than San Francisco was in the 1970s.
The mass influx of gay residents into Key West did not, however, go over entirely smooth. A backlash emerged as the 1970s came to an end.
Worries over Gentrification
The initial concern as Key West saw a spike in newly-arrived gay residents was not homophobic or conservative in nature. Rather the major concern was something that grips our politics and city planning still to this day; the issue of “gentrification” and concerns about out-pricing locals from their community.
A key issue here was that many of the gay men and women who came to the island through the 1960s and 1970s were higher-income and had the funds to invest in revitalizing the Old Town area of Key West. Duval Street especially had become a site of boarded up shops buildings in disrepair, a result of the broad depression that had gripped the area. The newly arrived gay entrepreneurs bought these buildings and refurbished them. These lots became clubs, shops, restaurants, and hotels.
All of this was broadly good for the economy of the city. However, as years progressed concerns from locals, many on lower incomes, about increasing land values and rents grew as a concern. This is a common double-edge-sword of revitalizing cities that hurt locals at the expensive of transplants. In the case of Key West, this especially became a concern in the historically Black Bahama Village, also broadly known as “Blacktown.”
I have this full from above article seen in this link. More than any discussion about the sexual orientation of buyers, the concerns were over the plans for the historic residential communities in the region. The Black population was especially concerned because of their proximity to the areas of land purchases. Black residents were adamant to have a say in plans for Old Town, understandably warry of “carpetbaggers” from the North. The full article here can also been seen in this link.
This concern was not just over the gay transplants moving to Florida. Clashes between the Black population and the incumbent white commissioners were already a source of tension. The city was in the process of taking control of the old US Naval Station, which had been decommissioned, and what to be done with the land, which sat right on the edge of Blacktown, as a major debate. Here plans to turn what would eventually become The Truman Annex (named for the fact Truman visited Key West many times as President) took center stage.
Many of the older families, the white “Conchs” lived further east in “Mid Town” or “New Town”, and hence less affected by what happened along Duval Street and other areas. However, as the population increases led to strains on city services, these residents too grew stressed and resentful. The concerns from the old Conchs of “outsiders” dated back decades. Its seen in this line from Ernest Hemingway’s “To Have and Have Not”
What they’re trying to do is starve you Conchs out of here so they can burn down the shacks and put up apartments and make this a tourist town. That’s what I hear.
Gentrification would be a constant city planning and political issue for the next several decades in Key West. However, a different issue emerged for the newly-arrived gay transplants that was less about politics.
Morris Wright - Violence Breaks Out
As this tension of a changing city continued to boil and grow, a spark of violence swept the island at the start of 1979. The inciting incident is credited to a homophobic ad that Baptist Minister Morris Wright ran in the Key West Citizen. The ad went directly after the gay community, stating….
“If I were the chief of police. I would get me a hundred good men, give them each a baseball bat and have them walk down Duval. Street and dare one of these freaks to stick his head over the edge of the sidewalk.
That is the way it was done in Key West in the days I remember and loved. Female impersonators and queers were loaded into a deputy’s automobile and shipped to the county line.”
The ad caused outrage in the city and was heavily denounced. However, its damage was already done. The aftermath saw several instances of gay men being verbally accosted or assaulted, largely be bands of young, largely white, men. Former reporter Lisa Thompson attributed the attacks that came from the Wright letter, which she said played up on the already growing resentment from the older Conch families.
“They have little enough to do down here and they were already incited by their parents’ complaints of chic new shops which mean nothing to their own life style, and rising taxes and higher prices, which do,”
This sentiment was confirmed when some of the men arrested were found to be part of the older Conch families. More on the violence can be seen here.
The most high-profile attack came on none other than Tennessee Williams, who was assaulted on January 28th. A report of the incident, which Williams recovered from and stood his ground during, can be viewed below, and is worth a listen.
The incidents did spark an increased police presence and response from law enforcement. While initial reports of anti-gay attacks being overlooked came up, it appears that police quickly came to the realization that if the gay community left the city, the economy would tank.
The full report from the above article can be found here. The initial police look focused on what were deemed “transients” and tourists. However, the presence of the children of longtime residents led to a shifting focus as time went on.
The spat of violence did not last, dying down as the spring and summer commenced. At the time there was no doubt a worry that this would foretell a greater backlash to the presence of gay people in Key West. Indeed there would remain tension. However, the year of 1979 would end far different than perhaps many gay men at the time feared.
As the violence of early 1979 commenced, I imagine view gay residents would have imagined they’d end the year electing the city’s first openly-gay commissioner. This is what happened when Richard Heyman entered the political arena.
Richard Heyman Runs for Commission
Heyman was originally born around Grand Rapids, Ohio and eventually graduated from Ohio State University in 1957. Heyman also was an Eagle Scout in his youth, something I mention because I too have my Eagle Rank from the Boy Scouts of America. Both he and I earned our awards while in the closet due the ban on openly gay Scouts that existed for many more decades. On this note, check out the book “Morally Straight” - which documents the fight for gay equality in the Scouts.
By the 1960s, Heyman was running a series of successful employment agencies in Toledo. Like many gay men in the north, he decided to relocate to Key West in the mid 1960s. In 1972, he opened the Gingerbread Square Art Gallery, one of the many new shops that marked the revival of Old Town. Heyman was a local businessman and community leader through the 1970s.
By most accounts, Heyman was not always set on seeking local office in Key West. However, Heyman was driven to make a run for the city council due to two predominant factors. One was that Heyman saw issues with the “good ol-boy” network of Conch politician that ran the city. The second was that the wave of anti-gay attacks in early 1979 spurred the gay community to seek a spot in local government to further aid the community if attacks resumed. Having a “seat at the table” was a major concern.
Heyman was convinced by many of the prominent gay business leaders to make the run. He announced his candidacy in September of 1979.
Heyman ran as a reformer voice for the city council. He did not emphasize his sexuality but focused on issues of land use and cronyism.
This run came as voters were growing more weary of longtime political leaders. Heyman was challenging incumbent commissioner Ralph Arnold, who drew five opponents in total. Heyman ran the most well-funded campaign of the campaign; bringing in $8,000. This sparked accusations Heyman of being the “big money candidate.” However, Heyman pointed out that 80% of his donations were under $30.
In the first round of voting, four candidates won precincts in the city. Heyman, however, came in a secure 1st place with 33%. Arnold was further back with 26%.
Heyman was very strong in the Old Town precincts outside of the Bahama Village. Arnold was strongest in the eastern precincts where the older Conch families lived. This map would reflecting a growing east-west divide in the city that centered on the Old Conch Families vs the new arrivals populating Old Town.
While Arnold being in a distant second could have spelled doom for him, the eliminated candidates had stronger longtime local ties. Arnold would weaponize the growing resentment of the new transplants to try and unite the “native conch vote.”
Heyman used his business acumen to his advantage, arguing he could bring his savvy to a commission that was in need of new ideas.
The campaign was also subjected to accusations of vote buying efforts. Accusations of Conch efforts to purchase votes for Arnold came up through the runoff, leading to a Heyman effort to have volunteer poll watchers at polling sites. These vote buying concerns were not unique to this race and would be subject of investigations by the Monroe election department in future campaigns.
When the runoff took place on November 20th, voters made it clear they wanted a change from the current politics of the city. Heyman defeated Arnold, while longtime incumbent Mayor Sonny McCoy only narrowly held on to his post.
McCoy’s close win was considered a victory for those seeking reform, as McCoy’s personal popularity and longtime tenure had made him very difficult to beat. Heyman was able to edge past Arnold, securing 51% of the vote. The results revealed a clear divide within the city of Key West.
Heyman’s victory was most pronounced in the revitalized Old Town. Meanwhile Arnold was stronger in the eastern communities populated by the older Conch families. Concerns about gentrifying, as previously discussed, manifested in Arnold holding on in the Bahama Village precincts of 6 & 7. However, Heyman won precinct 12, also home to a sizeable Black population. The margins in this area, however, were very narrow.
While Heyman had not emphasized his sexuality, the history-making nature of the win was not lost. Heyman was one of just a handful of openly gay elected officials in the United States and the FIRST openly gay elected official in Florida. In comments while visiting Ft Lauderdale the next year, Heyman said that more success could come as candidates focused on issues voters cared about. Heyman said to the crowd, “Don’t call me a gay Commissioner. I’m a commissioner who happens to be gay.”
Heyman was a trailblazer, and was never ashamed of his sexuality or the gay community. However, he would make it clear that his goals in Key West politics were not just about LGBT issues - but rather Government reform.
Heyman on the Commission
Richard Heyman’s time on the city commission, which extended from 1979 to 1983, was an era of tremendous hardships and serious policy debates. Heyman had been elected as a reform-minded commissioner and would find himself repeatedly at odds with the Conch majority of the board. Himself and commissioner Mary Lee Graham often formed a block of votes that were on the opposite side of a 3-member majority that broadly favored developers and establishment leaders. One major example was Heyman and Graham’s opposition to a lease of the city golf course to a private entity. Many votes would come down as 3-2, with Heyman often on the losing side.
However, many instances saw Heyman as the lone voice on matters. A major one was a debate over how the city would handle the land that was the decommissioned Naval Yard. With city leaders with the county over control of the land, Heyman’s proposal for a revamp of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency couldn’t even get a 2nd vote. The reason? Heyman wanted to give the county some of the seats on the board. Heyman railed that the commission cared more about firm control than moving plans forward.
For Heyman, many issues were small and about minor quality of life improvements for the city. He took the lead on pushes for improved garbage collection and crackdowns on drunken littering; something that hurt the city’s family friendly tourist image.
Heyman would side with the businesses led by his fellow gay residents at times, and be on the opposite issues on others. Heyman was notably for a noise ordinance that several clubs did not like. In his actions, Heyman showed a clear desire to not replace the old Conch insider politics with a new click run led by the gay transplants. He was always close with the gay community - he did not abandon them - but he also would not play favorites at the expense of the broad city.
Reform vs Conchs
Heyman’s arguments against the insular nature of the Conch majority on the commission proved even more prescient when financial struggle hit the city. In August of 1980, it became clear the city was virtually bankrupt, and struggling to even make basic payroll. The city then had to seek aid from the state to stay afloat, while allowing state auditors to take control of the city’s finances. As reports emerged that such financial problems had glaring warning signs for years, the longtime city manager was forced to resign. Heyman, as the new commissioner, was aghast at the state of the finances, which he attributed to the good-ol-boy network that long ran the city.
The Conch majority took a further black eye when the Miami Herald did a major report on the massive network of drug smuggling, especially marijuana, that had dominated Key West’s economy. You can read the report here, here, and here.
Paid off cops and city officials that looked the other way had allowed a drug industry to thrive in defiance of the law. Heyman and the gay transplants, despite a stereotype of “party culture,” were major opponents of the lawless drug trade. The blame for this atmosphere was placed squarely on the old political class, with Heyman championing reform and clean ups of the city.
Heyman would continue to be a voice for reform on the commission. In the 1981 local races, James Mira was elected to the commission. Mira had run against Heyman in 1979, coming in third, but then endorsed Heyman against Arnold in that runoff. Mira’s election was seen as a potential new majority with Heyman and Graham, but at different times votes were not exactly 3-2.
However, one major example where Heyman, Mira, and Graham did form a majority was in 1982 with the debate over hiring a new city manager. The three commissioners initially approved a plan that would exclude anyone from Monroe county being considered for the job. The reasoning was simple - to ensure old Conch favoritism did not play a roll. This plan was eventually modified to simply ensure Monroe applicants got no special consideration. However, amid the debate, Heyman’s tires were SLASHED at a city meeting.
The incident, which Heyman said would not intimidate him, showed how much political tension existed in the city. However, amid much of this, the issue was not gay or straight. It was reform vs the old Conch system.
Key West Amid National Events
Heyman’s first term in city politics came amid a major challenge to the island. The year after Heyman was elected, the Mariel Boatlift began. For those unfamiliar, the spring of 1980 saw a wave of over 100,000 Cuban refugees leave the island and make their way largely to Florida. This came as the Castro dictatorship declared anyone who didn’t want to stay on the island could leave - and people fled in droves. As a result, tens of thousands of refugees made their way to Key West, quickly overwhelming the city.
While officials were not xenophobic, there was a pressing concern about how such a small city could handle the mass influx. Federal Government and State Government forces quickly got involved and refugees were set up on the old Navy Yard grounds. However, the news was a disaster for the Key West economy. While the city had quickly adapted to the situation, a perception emerged of a city overcrowded and in chaos, something fueled by sensationalist stories. No amount of fact checking could override this public sentiment. As a result, Heyman lobbied extensively for the federal government to approve low interest loans to ease businesses who’d seen a sudden crash in much-needed tourism dollars.
Heyman took a major lead on the issue of affected businesses. At no point, at least as I’ve seen, did he resort to anti-immigrant sentiment. Heyman instead focused on aiding the financial burdens on the businesses that saw a dry up in tourism.
Later in 1980, as the refugee crisis was ending, Heyman reflected that the next tourism year would be good for the city. That the public would remember Key West, forgetting the fear mongering that had taken place and instead remembering it as this island paradise that that was the destination of people fleeing dictatorship.
“They are going to want to come and see the place where it all happened, where the Cubans first saw America”
Key West officials had gripes off and on with how the Carter administration handled the crisis. However, the city remained a firmly Democratic and liberal bastion. In the 1980 Presidential Election, as Ronald Reagan secured a landslide win, Jimmy Carter still managed an 8% win in Key West.
Reagan was strongest in the old Conch-heavy precincts of the east. However, Reagan did not pull massive margins anywhere in the city. The Black population was of course in Carter’s camp, as was the revitalized Old Town - with independent Anderson also taking a chunk of liberal ballots.
Key West was the only part of the Florida Keys to back Carter. The upper Keys were firmly Republican in the 1980 election.
Key West had weathered the refugee crisis and remained a liberal city. The question now was, would such a city be willing to elect Florida’s 1st Openly Gay Mayor.
Heyman’s Run for City Mayor
On June 2nd, it was confirmed that Richard Heyman would run for City Mayor. With his commission term up and incumbent Mayor Richard Wardlow not running for re-election, Heyman decided to take the plunge.
Long acknowledged on the losing side of many city decisions, but the clear leader of the reform movement, Heyman’s Mayoral run was designed to be a confirmation of public sentiment against the old Conch network.
For the Conch side, local leaders would not turn to an incumbent commissioner. Instead, former Monroe County Commissioner Richard Kerr announced he was running in July of 1983.
Kerr ran partly as an “soft outsider”, taking the city to task on several of its positions in a similar way to Heyman. However, Kerr was very much the candidate of the Conchs; and was strongly tied old Key West families. His candidacy was to stop a transplant from becoming City Mayor. Kerr, however, was not the strongest candidate. In 1980, he’d lost re-nomination in the Democratic Primary for County Commission. His loss was not over any ideological debate, but rather a view that Kerr was not fully focused on the job and routinely ducked tough decisions.
Heyman ran his campaign largely focused on his plans for the city and his push for reform. He had achievements to brag but also very much campaigned as an outsider to the city good ol-boy network.
Heyman would raise far more money than Kerr, taking in around $20,000 vs $8,000 for Kerr. Heyman was able to post ads from citizens thanking him for his initiatives and pushes for reform and audits.
Its hard to say if Heyman was always viewed as a frontrunner, but from a historic perspective it seems he always had a clear advantage. Transplants were starting to outpace Conchs and the old political network of the city had suffered several bruising new reports. The Kerr side honestly had little to offer reformers. In what feels like a clear desperation push, the Kerr side went all in on homophobia.
The Campaign Goes Negative
The second half of October was when things went in a notably negative direction. At first Kerr ads emphasized his goals for the city. Then, around October 13th, an ad ran in the Key West Citizen where Kerr emphasized his long family roots. He dubbed himself a “family man.” At first, many may have thought nothing of this, but it was part of a shifting narrative that Kerr would run.
As Kerr emphasized his “family man” persona, he would launch a serious of attacks against Heyman and warning that Heyman winning would destroy the city’s family-friendly image.
The impetus for this was an August vote where the city commission reinforced an ordinance against nude sunbathing in the city. State law already banned such practices, but Key West was becoming more known for topless women sunbathing as state law was overlooked. A push was made to crack down, and initially the city voted 5-0 for an ordinance that banned the practice with an exception for homes and otherwise private establishments. This was a likely balanced compromise, as reporters indicated a large chunk of the city voters wanted a topless option to exist, but agreed about restrictions to areas away from children and those who did not desire to see such things. However, conservatives loudly protested the ordinance and demanded a further crackdown. The commission ultimately changed he ordinance to ban anything outside a home, and putting the burden on homeowners to ensure no one could look over their fence and such. Heyman was the lone commissioner to reject things change, which passed 4-1.
Kerr used this issue as his attack point, running big ads highlighting the vote from Heyman. In the ad, he portrayed Heyman as someone favoring rowdy sexually-themed parties and nudity. This actually contrasted heavily with Heyman’s more reserved and “lets keep Key West good for tourists” mantra.
The advertising included appeals to setting a “moral tone” and were clear efforts from the Kerr camp to associate the debate with a broader view of wild party lifestyles. Topless women sunbathing, almost all of whom were straight women, was tied in with gay men who had reshaped Old Town.
In the advertising above, and in several other pieces, Kerr would refer to lacks of leadership, something he claimed Heyman had, as a “deadly disease” that had infected the city. The argument on its face didn’t hold water, as Heyman had showed strong leadership and aggressive acts while on the commission. He may not have won the day on many policies, but the idea he was not “leading” on issues was nonsense.
The use of it being a “disease” would also sound like a very strange term. Except…. if it wasn’t for the fact 1983 was when the AID crisis was beginning to become more apparent in the city of Key West.
AIDS would eventually come to decimate the gay population of Key West, like it did in so many other cities across the country. By late 1983 it was becoming a bigger and more visible issue in the city. It is IMPOSSIBLE for me to believe Kerr using the phrase disease was not a direct nod to this fear of AIDs.
Kerr would launch nonstop barrages as Heyman. As he drew heat for his coded campaign against the gay community, he instead insisted it was about Heyman being a “failed leader.”
Every add included veiled attacks on the gay community. In the above ad he again references a “deadly disease” and claims Heyman displayed “terminal weakness.”
While the Kerr side would continue to deny they were directly homophobic, they still sought to weaponize the sexuality issue. A core component from the Kerr backers was that a Heyman win would lead to a surge of new gay residents moving to the city.
The negativity of Kerr’s campaign thrust sexuality into the campaign, but much of the coverage remained on the race being between the newcomers and the old Conchs. As one Heyman backer said - “the gay issue is just a smoke screen. Its very much a local versus an outsider election.”
Kerr, as seen in the above article, never shied away from his Conch roots. In the article he referred to himself “proud to be a Bubba” (another name for the old Conch system). Kerr and his backers clearly took offense to the calls for reform. Former State Representative Charles Ramos, a longtime Key West Conch, said that the race was “a kind of last stand for the Conchs.”
The Kerr team forced a dark end to the campaign cycle, weaponizing Heyman’s sexuality and fear of some second big gay migration to scare voters. The question was, would it work? At most 20% of the city was gay, so Heyman could not win on just gay votes. Kerr clearly wanted to put voting on sexuality lines. If such a move succeeded, he’d win.
The Mayoral Results
The Kerr campaign generated a great deal of negative attention onto the city and no doubt deeply wounded many local residents. For all of the anti-gay efforts, the results were in vain. Richard Heyman was elected Key West Mayor by just under 10 points; taking 54% of the vote.
Heyman absolutely dominated the Old Town precincts against Kerr; taking in over 70% of the vote in several communities. Kerr, meanwhile, only managed modest wins in the Mid Town and New Town communities, as well as in Bahama Village. However, no areas Kerr won saw as big a margins as what Heyman secured in Old Town.
Kerr’s win showed Conch influence was further retreating into the east end of the city. The vote in Bahama Village reflected Conchs still have support in those communities. While it may be easy to attribute this to homophobia in the Black community, and I cannot speak to any reports or surveys at the time, these were communities still on edge about gentrification from the new reform-minded transplants.
The old Conch machine retreated to lick its wounds in the aftermath of the results. Kerr, while offering tepid support to Heyman, could hardly hide his bitterness.
“I do feel its going to have a definite affect on the tourist trade and on families living here who don’t want a gay mayor.”
What Kerry clearly meant was that HE didn’t want a gay mayor. In a post-election article from the New York Times, straight voters in the city made it clear they’d voted for Heyman for much-needed reform.
''I'm not gay, and I voted for Richard Heyman,'' said Carolyn Terrell, who sells real estate and has lived here seven years. ''Most of the straight people I know voted for him. It wasn't a vote for a gay mayor; it was a vote for good government.''
''There are four times the people in Key West that there used to be,'' says Mr. Kee, the conch fisherman, who has seen great change in his 73 years here. ''But they're still the nicest people there are, and it's still the best place in the world.''
On November 17th, Heyman was sworn in as the new city mayor.
Heyman’s election marked a continued evolution away from the old Conch/Bubba political system. It also made Heyman a nationwide name as Florida’s first openly gay mayor. By most accounts, Heyman also was America’s first openly gay mayor of a major city.
Heyman over the following Years
There is so much more that can be said about Heyman’s time in Key West politics. Over his tenure as Mayor, Heyman would be part of a majority on the board that would work toward major infrastructure changes and a new city charter. Politics remained tense in the city, has they had for nearly a decade to that point, but Heyman continued to make pushes for better city government.
Key West Mayors severed 2-year terms. In 1985, Heyman decided not to run for re-election. His major issues were the stress of the job had led to a bad bout of shingles; while his dedication to the office, technically a part-time gig, had hurt his gallery business. Heyman opted to step away rather than burn out any more.
The Mayoral Election that year was won by banker Tom Sawyer. Both candidates in that race were longtime residents, but Sawyer did win on the stronger old Conch family neighborhoods. That same year, however, commissioner Joe Balbontin, who pushed the anti-gay campaign against Heyman, lost his re-election.
In 1987, Heyman made his return to the political arena, announcing another run for Mayor. His health was improved and he felt more was to be done. In a major clash of titans, Heyman bested former 5-term Mayor Charles McCoy, who’d served as mayor through the 1970s. Heyman won the runoff with 55% of the vote; dominating in the Old Town precincts and winning Bahama Village.
These elections, along with the loss of other Conch city council candidates and incumbents, was considered the final verification that the Conchs were in the minority.
Heyman’s second term would see him work toward more improvements for the city. His crowing Jewel was a new Wastewater facility; which was long needed for a city with constant sewer and waste issues for decades. This second term, sadly, also came amid the increasing AIDS crisis in Key West. The death rate continued to rise in Key West, with Monroe County having the largest HIV rate per capita in the state. This was a dark time for the city’s gay community. Mayor Heyman himself simultaneously worked to ensure HIV+ people had the resources available; being a major promoted over the local organization “Aids Help.” At the same time Heyman worked to ensure Key West remained a positive tourist destination, eager to not let the economy crater like it did during the 1980 boatlift. It was also under Heyman’s watch that the city passed an ordinance barring hiring discrimination against HIV+ people.
It was during his second term that Heyman himself discovered he was HIV+. With this, he opted not to run for re-election in 1989, and retired to focus on HIV/AIDS advocacy.
In 1994, Richard Heyman would pass away from a pneumonia stemming from AIDS. In his final weeks, as he grew weaker, he was approached by city leaders. They wanted to dedicate a memorial to him and asked if he’d like it to be a park, or something related to the gay community. Heyman instead wanted to honor the infrastructure projects he was most proud of. Shortly after his passing, the city designated Richard A. Heyman Memorial Waste Treatment Plant.
Heyman was a gay trailblazer and part of a new era for Key West culture and politics. However, in his final act, Heyman wanted to be remembered for reforms he had brought the city he had made his home. He left a legacy that honestly deserves more attention that it gets. Nationwide he was a major first in the fight for gay equality and acceptance. Locally he was a man of reform and breaking up the old Conch political dynasties. When he ran in 1983, the old Conch conservatives lamented the “change” that a Heyman election would bring. They were right, he did bring change, and despite what they thought, it was change for the better.
Wastewater treatment is a core service, if often unrecognized by the citizenry -- until there is a serious backup or flood, which would have a big impact on a small town. Heyman made a solid choice to put his name on that civic improvement.