Barney Frank marries his Partner

Frank married his partner Jim Ready this weekend. The two have been together for 7 years, however Jim always had a crush on him for 20 years.

Congrats to the loving couple.

source

Barney Frank snatched Tony Perkins' wig off on Hardball

Barney basically said, "Don't come for me BITCH!"

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rep. Barney Frank gives Obama an "A-" on LGBT issues, Supports Obama's stance on the Executive Order for Workplace Discrimination

Rep. Barney Frank had some good, but interesting things to say about the President's stance on LGBT issues.

Barney told The Hill:

"It's not a surprise," Frank said. "He hasn't yet said that he's for [gay] marriage, so that's a problem."

Frank was quick, however, to applaud Obama's overall record on gay issues, giving him an "A-minus" across the board. The Massachusetts liberal praised Obama's decision to quit any legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – which defines marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman – and to repeal the Pentagon's long-standing "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy.

Frank said the administration's adoption of new federal standards for gauging discrimination under DOMA is particularly good.

"He's been good [but] he hasn't been perfect," Frank said. "He just hasn't quite gotten to the marriage [issue]."

Barney also said that he also supported President Obama's decision on the executive order for workplace discrimination.

"The problem there, to be honest, is not so much gay and lesbian issues, but there's a lot of controversy about too many executive orders. … And so I think it's probably wise to wait on that," Frank said. 

"I wrote that I'm for it, but in the context of the criticism on too many executive orders, I think it's reasonable to wait until next year."

Frank, who's retiring at the end of the year after 16 terms, is hoping Democrats will do well enough at the polls in November that that they can preclude an executive order and enact a bill instead.

"If we win the House and the Senate," he said, "I'd rather do it legislatively."

Barney Frank on LGBT Activists And Bloggers

Barney Frank always have a lot to say. But check out what he had to say about LGBT activists and their actions:

In general, the people who are complaining — well, what’s their remedy? They’re complaining, what do they want, sympathy? If they’re saying they wish we had more, I do too. Are they saying that’s a reason not to be supporting Barack Obama? That’s political suicide. The next president will probably appoint another Supreme Court justice or two. I don’t see how people can say, oh, we care about the lawsuit for Prop 8, we care about the DOMA lawsuit but let’s make sure that a homophobe will appoint the next Supreme Court justice.

(...)

And the answer is that it is suicidal and dumb and self-defeating. Plus, you focus much too much on this. They are a very small percentage of our community and I think that’s a tendency, whether you’re in the media or whether they blog. That is a very small percentage of the community. Do you think most transgender people – Diego would know better than you or I – What do most transgender people in Massachusetts think about the bill?

Please go here to read the rest of this article. It's pretty good.

WATCH: Barney Frank Challenges Newt 'The Hut' Gingrich on DOMA

Rep. Barney Frank is Retiring

The fighter is leaving the mat. Barney Frank will not seek re-election next year. Barney has been a powerful player in politics and will be greatly missed.

Barney Frank: "I thought the Gingrich Group were his wives" - VIDEO

Interesting Quote: Barney Frank

“I’m disturbed by the news that Uganda is considering going ahead with a measure that denies the humanity of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.”

“I was pleased when the Financial Services Committee overwhelmingly, in a bipartisan way, voted in favor of my amendment urging the Secretary of the Treasury to oppose any financial assistance from multilateral development institutions to countries that persecute people on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity or religious beliefs. In the discussion of the amendment I offered, I specifically mentioned the deeply troubling case of Uganda, which is now considering legislation to legally deprive people of these basic human rights.”

“If the bill before the Ugandan parliament becomes law, it must be the policy of the United States government to oppose any aid to Uganda from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, or any other international financial institution of which we are a member.”

Barney is saying cut off the money honey if Uganda can't get it together

source

Interesting Quote: Barney Frank

There are lawsuits against it that I think will win anyway, because the federal government can’t discriminate. Beyond that I don’t see anything about gay marriage happening on a federal level. More and more states will go that way, though. When they do, people will see, as with health care and the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” that there are no negative consequences. Places that have gay marriage have had none of the negative consequences that people warned us about. Zero. The divorce rate hasn’t gone up. There have been no calamities. Marriage hasn’t lost its meaning. Same-sex marriage as a divisive issue is losing its steam. Overall I think antigay prejudice is on its way out.

He's talking about President Obama's stance on DOMA

Barney Frank Plans to Introduce ENDA the Week

Word on the street is ENDA will on the table this week. Metro Weekly has the details:

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) plans to introduce the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the House on Wednesday, according to two LGBT equality advocates with direct knowledge of the congressman's plans. Frank's communications director, Harry Gural, confirmed that the plans are "to formally announce ENDA this week," although he added over the weekend that specifics are not yet nailed down and were expected to be so by this afternoon.


The bill, which Gural says will be the same exact bill as that introduced in the 111th Congress, would prohibit most employers from discriminating in hiring and promotions on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.


Although the bill is not expected to move forward in the House under the leadership of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Frank, talking with Metro Weekly on Sunday, March 27, says, "It's an organizing tool. Obviously, with the Republicans in power, you're not going to get the bill even considered."

But, Frank -- the longest-serving out member of Congress -- says, "I'm going to be urging people to spend their time talking to those who have voted in the past for ENDA and are supportive of ENDA but where we're not certain they're still with us on the transgender issue."

Hopefully, they will add the Transgender piece in the bill. Our fam has to be represented! 

WATCH Barney Frank calls out the folks who are worried the 'Radical Homosexual Agenda'

Barney Frank's Gloomy Outlook for LGBT Rights

Barney Frank didn't lift my spirits with his outlook of the next 2 years involving LGBT rights. Here is what he said in the Washington Blade:

“Next year there’s no chance of anything happening,” he said of pro-LGBT legislation. “There’s zero chance.”

He added, “It will be a status quo. They don’t have the votes to hurt us but we don’t have the votes to advance anything in the cause.”

Frank also said he was certain that Republicans would fail in an attempt to overturn D.C.’s same-sex marriage law.

“Do you think Barack Obama is going to sign a bill to repeal the D.C. marriage law,” he asked. “It won’t go through the Senate. There is no chance that could happen. None—zero.”
Frank noted that only five out of 179 House Republicans voted earlier this year to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“The Republicans have become much more anti-gay in their voting patterns,” he said. “There is zero chance of anything good happening with Republicans in control of the House.”
Frank said he was hopeful that the Senate would vote to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the congressional lame duck session over the next two weeks.

I'm still hopeful, though.

source

Gay Representatives send an open letter to the LGBT Community

In a letter, Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis reminds the LGBT Community how important this election is:

Dear Friends,

Elections matter.

Yes, we’ve all heard that simple phrase before – but so often we forget it. And as we stand on the doorstep of an election that will again decide the course of our government, our community is locked into an energetic and serious debate about how to engage, or whether to even engage at all in the midterm elections this November.

Why? Our community is frustrated with the pace of change. And as three LGBT Members of Congress, we share your frustration.  Despite this, an apathetic stance during such a critical time is fruitless.

We need not look too far into the past to see how inaction and
complacency truly pays us back.  Under Republican rule, we not only suffered from a lack of victories, but truly devastating setbacks. We all remember President Bush and the Republican Congress pushing for a Federal Marriage Amendment for political purposes and using our community as a wedge to advocate for state-wide marriage amendments across the nation. Republicans make no secret of their opposition to seemingly nonpartisan issues such as adoption by gay & lesbian couples despite the thousands of children in need of homes.

And we all remember federal agencies being told to ignore any grant request that said gay or LGBT, including grants for HIV/AIDS funding.

There has, indeed, been progress under the Obama Administration. In the 111th Congress, we passed the Matthew Shepherd and James Byrd Jr. Federal Hate Crimes Act, admittedly no small feat, while the State Department adopted inclusive passport procedures recognizing and accommodating our transgender brothers and sisters. Our voice was further strengthened when we achieved medical decision parity in America’s hospitals and strengthened polices that prevented discrimination against housing applicants based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Is it enough? No. The fight for equality is far from over. We face obstruction at every turn and it is incumbent upon us  to push harder to ensure swift action on the issues that affect us most.

Next month, the courageous and steadfast activism of the past year must be met by a vote cast on November 2nd. We ask that you look at your local ballot and scrutinize and measure candidates running for each seat. Which candidates do you see supporting issues that affect our community, which will champion our causes? Whether it is for employment non-discrimination, the repeal of DOMA or Federal Partnership benefits? Which candidates even believe LGBT issues merit space on their campaign website?

Elections matter. They matter to our country and to our community. We must go out and vote this November to ensure the forward momentum we have struggled for continues for our benefit and for that of future generations of LGBT individuals.

Sincerely,

Representatives:
Barney Frank
Tammy Baldwin
Jared Polis

source