Michael Corrigan was an American LGBT Activist who was opposed to conservative laws introduced by Russian President Viktor Petrov.

Biography

Corrigan met his partner and later husband John Pasternak in the late 1990s at an activist rally. They married officially in 2010, although Corrigan confessed to Claire Underwood that he had been unfaithful to John during their marriage and they had considered divorce.

Season 3

In Chapter 30, Corrigan is arrested whilst protesting for LGBT rights in Moscow, Russia. Both President Frank Underwood and UN Ambassador Claire Underwood travel to Moscow to ensure his release before he is prosecuted. Upon meeting Claire in his holding cell, Corrigan is noticeably thin, due to a hunger strike he participated in before the Underwood's arrival. He refuses to make a speech apologizing to Viktor Petrov for promoting unnatural behavior, jeopardizing his chances of release. With Claire refusing to leave his cell until his mind was changed, they began to talk. Corrigan revealed his marital problems with John Pasternak, and how they avoided divorce only as it would be seen as damaging to the fight for equal rights of other LGBT people.

After dismissing his husband's concern for him for the sake of saving other prisoners and refusing to read the statement, Corrigan convinces a tired Claire Underwood to rest on his bunk. Whilst she sleeps, Corrigan hangs himself with her scarf in protest. His body is discovered when Kremlin guards enter the cell to inform Claire that Petrov has negotiated for Frank Underwood to read the speech instead. His death visibly shocks Claire, who later publicly denounces Petrov on national television; blaming him for Corrigan's death. Claire's reaction causes Frank to view Corrigan's death negatively; calling him a 'coward' for committing suicide. However, Claire refutes this by saying he had more courage than Frank ever would.