Ex-Rep. Barney Frank, gay trailblazer, prais Hoe passage of same-sex marriage bill

gay senator frank

The 118th U.S. Congrs set a historil mark wh a rerd 13 members who intify as gay, lbian or bisexual.

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MY LIFE AS A GAY CONGRSMAN

* gay senator frank *

Wily regard as one of the most telligent and well spoken members of the Hoe of Reprentativ, Barney Frank, a Democratic Congrsman for nearly 30 years and the first openly gay member of the Hoe, almost undid his reer 1989 after havg an affair wh Steve Gobie, a male prostute. Though I was a third term Democratic ngrsman om Massachetts, I had lived too long wh the burn of “the gay thg” to treat g out as a polil matter alone.

I’d felt shame as I watched younger gay men and lbians nont the bigots openly wh a urage that I lacked. They remaed mted to the “le” that proment people should not be outed unls they had been enmhed a gay-related sndal, but they were unrstandably eager to break the story. I nsistently said no—I didn’t ny I was gay but voked their own nondisclosure prciple.

His primary ncern was outlawg abortn, but he had followed the nservative movement’s anti-gay le as well.

17 GAY SEX SNDALS THAT ROCKED AMERIN POLICS

Former Rep. Barney Frank, the first member of Congrs to voluntarily e out as gay, attend Thursday’s historic Hoe vote to protect same-sex and terracial marriage and praised legislators for their work. * gay senator frank *

His nial of his homosexualy was universally—and accurately—disbelieved, and he was feated for reelectn that year. In his memoir scribg his own gay life, he ced my attendance at a gay pri rally the pany of a iend whom he accurately assumed was a romantic attachment.

RERD 13 CONGRS MEMBERS INTIFY AS GAY, LBIAN OR BISEXUAL

The Senate ph to enshre feral protectns for same-sex marriage has land Wisns’s two senators — liberal Tammy Baldw, the first openly gay senator * gay senator frank *

No one readg uld miss the clear import: I was a gay man who enjoyed a media silence that he had been nied.

“Tip, ” I said, “Bob Bman has jt wrten a book that says I’m gay. When I had asked gay rights activist Steve Enan to take me to a gay bar 1980, durg Congrs’s lame-duck ssn, he was chastised by a senr gay polil lear for threateng my ver, thereby endangerg an important LGBT polil asset. I then explaed that I did not tend to announce anythg, but that I would answer hontly if a reporter asked if I was gay.

If beg gay was no big al, people would reasonably ask why I announced .

TAMMY BALDW, WHO IS GAY, NONTED MAR RUB ABOUT LLG SAME-SEX MARRIAGE VOTE A ‘STUPID WASTE OF TIME’

Askg if I were gay—even wh my permissn—would break the no-outg le and require them to expla why I was a one-time exceptn. Office, turned on her tape rerr, and asked me, “Are you gay? Robson had two reasons for beg so proprietary: It was his journalistic terrory, and he was himself a closeted gay man whom I had met at social functns D.

(Inappropriately, the Globe later assigned him to the “society” beat, where he often mented om his closet a snarky way about other gay people. It started badly when an olr, nservative Democrat nonted me, plag that I had lied to him when he’d asked if I was gay durg my mpaign. Alan Simpson of Wyomg, the Republin senator who supported my efforts to remove the anti-gay immigratn le, lled to apologize.

The right-wg Washgton Tim, owned by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, enthiastilly add gay bashg to s regular nunciatns of me— which I took nsirable pri—but they were a mor exceptn. The headle across the top of the page read “Public Man, Private Life: Why a Congrsman Told of His Homosexualy.

EX-REP. BARNEY FRANK, GAY TRAILBLAZER, PRAIS HOE PASSAGE OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILL

” And the article scribed my “homosexual acquatanc” and my support for “homosexual rights.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY SENATOR FRANK

My Life as a Gay Congrsman - POLITICO Magaze .

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