“American Hustle” isn’t the only Washington based drama competing at this year’s Academy Awards. The British film “Philomena,” has been nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actress for Judi Dench. The story tells the real life tale of an Irish woman, Philomena Lee, who is forced to give up her son for adoption by the Catholic Church, and 50 years later decides to go looking for him. The son turned out to be Michael Hess, a high ranking member of the Ronald Reagan Administration.
While Michael Anthony Hess died of AIDs over 20 years ago, his legacy lives on here in Washington. Adopted by a couple in St. Louis, Missouri, Hess attended the University of Notre Dame and received a law degree at George Washington University before beginning an illustrious career in politics.
Hess first got a taste for political life in Washington by serving as a Senate page for the Republican minority leader, Everett Dirksen of Illinois. After earning his law degree Hess joined National Institute of Municipal Law Officers, dispensing legal advice to local governments and becoming an expert in the legal ramifications of political redistricting.
Following the election of Ronald Reagan, Hess was recruited by the Republican National Committee to reverse local gerrymandering decisions that had been designed to protect white Democrats. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990’s the Republicans pursued a political strategy, through court cases and legislation, to pack racial minorities into single districts, thus making predominantly white districts more competitive for the GOP.
In 1993, while Hess was chief legal counsel to the RNC, he was diagnosed as HIV positive. At this time the treatment of AIDs was still very much imperfect, and Hess passed away within two years. Very few of his friends even knew Hess was gay, and his employers specifically were very much unaware of both his sexuality and diagnosis. The Moral Majority that dominated the GOP at this time was adamantly against homosexuality, and even Ronald Reagan refused to acknowledge that the AIDs epidemic at the time was any threat to heterosexual Americans.
“[His’s homosexuality] didn’t need to be part of the conversation,” Hess’s longtime partner, Steve Dahllof, told POLITICO in an interview. “Now it’s more relaxed. Society has moved on. He was never tormented by his sexuality. He was a Republican, more a fiscal Republican than a social Republican. We really didn’t talk politics that much.”
Despite the hidden struggles and seeming inconsistencies between Hess’s personal and private life, his friends and coworkers alike were well aware of his desire to find his birth mother. He traveled to Ireland on two separate occasions in search of his back story, however, secrecy surrounding the history of forced adoption by the Catholic Church prevented him from finding answers.
Hess asked to be buried at Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, Tipperary, Ireland, the place where he was born and given up for adoption. This is where the story of “Philomena” picks back up, as his birth mother does eventually end up finding Hess’s grave.
While the primary focus of “Philomena” is the archaic system of forced adoption implemented by the Catholic Church, it also offers some great insight into the tense relationship between the Republican Party and homosexuality. Hess’s story is being told at an amazingly pertinent time, following the repeal of DOMA, more and more states allowing gay marriage, and the Republican Party moving ever closer to a more inclusive platform.
