Sam Gurwitt Photo
Mick McGarry traces his decision to enter politics to two factors: soccer, and his brother’s struggle to come out in the 1980s before dying of AIDS.
Years later, he’s the Hamden Legislative Council president, and was recently reelected to a fourth term on the council.
McGarry discussed how he got involved in politics during an appearance on WNHH Radio’s “Dateline Hamden” program. He also discussed development projects in the town, policing, and what to expect from the next council and the upcoming budget season.
McGarry said his political “origin story” began when his brother Shawn came out as gay in the 1980s.
“Coming out in the ‘80s as a young gay man for my brother was very difficult,” he said. It was a hard time to be openly gay to begin with It didn’t help that they went to a Catholic school.
McGarry’s brother moved from Hartford, where they grew up, to New Haven, where he died of AIDS in 1994. McGarry said he moved to New Haven in the last few years of Shawn’s life to take care of him. That’s how he ended up in the area, eventually settling in New Haven
In 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed James Hormel as ambassador to Luxemburg. Hormel was the grandson of George Hormel, who founded Hormel Foods, and was openly gay. Republicans, led by then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, opposed his appointment because of his sexuality. In 1999, Clinton managed to get him appointed through a recess appointment, and Hormel became the first openly LGBT U.S. ambassador.
Though eventually justice prevailed, watching that process pushed McGarry from political independence towards the Democratic Party, he said.
“I was kind of the independent, like, ‘Both sides are terrible,’” he said. “But then I realized no, both sides are not the same. One side picked a credentialed gay man to be the ambassador to Luxemburg. The other side said no just because he was gay. I have to be in opposition to that other party, so I picked my side.”
There was another factor leading to his election to the Legislative Council: soccer.
He had played soccer in high school and college. His kids began to play in Hamden. He’s a high school English teacher in Fairfield, and in the mid-2000s he was coaching the freshman team, which meant he was traveling to soccer fields all over the state.
“Ours [were] literally the worst,” he said. So he got involved, first on the Parks and Recreation Commission. The commission managed to get a grant to improve Moretti Field.
“We got the grant funding and we got a field rehabilitated, and we started getting some work done. So I said, “This is just growing grass. If we can grow grass, maybe we can do some other things too.”
In 2007, McGarry ran for the Legislative Council for the first time and lost to Michael Iezzi Jr. In 2013, he tried again, and won. He’s now about to enter his fourth term on the council, not without some excitement about soccer.
On Friday, he toured a new business incubator on Morse Street in southern Hamden.
“One of my favorite parts: There will be a soccer field there. Which is so wonderful. It makes me very happy.”
Click on the video to watch the full interview with McGarry on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.”