New York Times bestselling author James Kirchick joins FIRE as senior fellow

In a 2018 interview with FIRE, bestselling author James Kirchick had this to say about free speech:

As a writer, I am a free speech absolutist by necessity. Any attempt to infringe upon freedom of expression is a threat not only to my values, but my livelihood. I started a newspaper in fifth grade and wrote a column for the Yale Daily News for all four years of my time at Yale. I was president of my high school debate team. Writing and thinking and arguing are my life.

At the time, Kirchick was running as a dark horse candidate for a seat on the board of trustees at his alma mater, Yale University. He ran on a platform of expanding free speech and academic freedom rights on campus, and although he was not elected, he has remained a fierce critic of censorship and a staunch advocate for free speech, academic freedom, and freedom of the press throughout his professional life.

With values that align so closely with FIRE’s mission, we could not be more excited to announce that Kirchick has joined FIRE as a senior fellow.

Kirchick graduated from Yale in 2006 and started a career in journalism at The New Republic followed by a stint at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty based in Prague. He has reported from over 40 countries, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times, among many other publications in the United States and around the world. 

“Jamie is one of America’s most incisive writers, and for years he has brought his considerable talents and fresh perspectives to bear on issues of free speech and expression,” said FIRE Executive Vice President Nico Perrino. “At a time when critical reporting and analysis of ongoing free speech challenges is as necessary as ever, Jamie’s role as a FIRE senior fellow will support his expanded writing and speaking on these issues and further position him as a thought leader in the space, driving national conversations. We can’t wait to share his work in the weeks and months ahead.”

Kirchick reminds us of the continued importance of free speech today. We are proud to welcome him to FIRE.

Kirchick’s first book, “The End of Europe: Dictators, Demagogues and the Coming Dark Age,” was published by Yale University Press in 2017, and he is currently a contributing writer for Tablet magazine and a writer at large for Air Mail.

His second book, the New York Times bestseller, “Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington,” was released to rave reviews in 2022. Stylistically compared to Robert Caro’s “Years of Lyndon Johnson” trilogy, Kirchick’s “Secret City” brings readers into Washington’s purge of gays and lesbians at the height of the Cold War using thousands of pages of declassified documents and scores of interviews.

‘So to Speak’ podcast: ‘The First Amendment created gay America’

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“Every advance gay people have made in this country has been the result of the exercise of free expression,” argues writer James Kirchick, author of the New York Times bestseller, “Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington.”

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In an appearance on FIRE’s “So to Speak” podcast in 2022, Kirchick and host Nico Perrino discussed the role that free speech law played in ending the gay purge in Washington. 

“If you look at a man like Frank Kameny — who I write about in my book — he was a Harvard-trained Ph.D. astronomer who was fired from his job at the US Army Map Service in 1957 because he was gay,” Kirchick said. “And he became the first person to challenge his firing, which was a real momentous event because thousands of people had lost their jobs for being gay up to that point. The social stigma of being identified as a homosexual in America was so strong that none of them wanted to publicly essentially come out against it.”

Using legal arguments grounded in our founding documents to present his case, Kameny utilized his First Amendment rights to protest his cruel treatment at the hands of the government, and, after appeals were denied, organized the first gay rights picket outside the White House in 1965.

In telling the stories of brave individuals like Kameny who didn't shy away from exercising their First Amendment rights, Kirchick reminds us of the continued importance of free speech today. We are proud to welcome him to FIRE.