Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said that gay rights legislation will not pass in the Congress until the Democratic Party regains a majority in the House of Representatives. Frank, the first openly gay member of Congress, addressed members of the Georgetown community on Tuesday as part of the College Democrats’ month-long forum on gay rights.
Frank identified two trends shaping the present state of gay rights. First, he said that society as a whole is less anti-gay than it was 15 years ago. Secondly, the conservative right has taken over the Republican Party, Frank said.
“The Democrats have gotten better and better ? the Republicans [are] running away,” he said.
Although he felt as though gay rights had made a lot of progress, Frank said that he did not see any gay rights legislation being passed in the near future.
Frank drew on personal and professional experience as he discussed the evolution of American legislation on gay rights and American attitudes toward homosexuality. In 1972, after his election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Frank said that he introduced the first bill to end discrimination based on homosexuality. He said that when he filed this first bill, he had not publicly announced his homosexuality, and did not until 1987.
“The fight for gay and lesbian rights is relatively recent: It began after the Stonewall riots of 1969,” Frank said.
Frank identified the four main tenets of the “gay agenda” as the protection of homosexuals from discrimination in the workplace, the right to engage in a civil union, the right to adopt children and the protection of homosexual students in school.
“We want to be able to live our lives without violence or discrimination ? that’s the gay agenda,” Frank said. “We’re asking for legal protection ? nobody can stop someone from not liking you,” he said.
Frank said that the opposition toward homosexuals during the late 1960s and early 1970s “was very much based on anti-gay prejudice.” Thirty years ago, both the Democrat and the Republican parties were not afraid to blatantly discriminate against homosexuals, he said.
Developments in the late 1960s began to change the mood towards discrimination based on sexual orientation, according to Frank.
“Millions of gays decided to tell the truth about who they are,” Frank said.
He said that as more individuals revealed their sexuality, a more accepting attitude toward homosexuality began to emerge.
“The major reason for it is because millions and millions of people decided to be honest about themselves ? Relatives, clients and friends turned out to be gay,” said Frank. While this change occurred in a slow, incremental manner, Frank said that he believes that discrimination against homosexuals has been substantially diminished in the past 15 years.
“Americans have discovered that they aren’t anti-gay, they just thought they were supposed to be,” Frank said.
Frank described his personal decision to reveal his homosexuality in 1987. He said that it was difficult to mask his sexual orientation while pursuing a life in public service but that he refused to sensationalize a personal aspect of his life not directly related to his professional ability. He waited until he was explicitly asked about his sexual orientation.
“When I was finally asked, my answer was, ‘Yeah, so what?’” Frank said.
Frank said that the debates against gay rights have now been changed so that it is more difficult to pinpoint discrimination. “Prejudice now has to hide itself ? The people who oppose us now do not tell the truth,” he said.
Frank said that current opponents of gay rights argue that legislation granting gay rights will lead to “special rights” for homosexuals.
“[Now, they must] rationalize their dislikes,” Frank said.
