Rep. Barney Frank never looks pleased to be on the cable news circuit. But he had an important job to do last night on Joy Behar’s gay-loving show: Respond to all that criticism aimed at him for criticizing the National Equality March.
And so he did. But he didn’t apologize. He just clarified: If you went to D.C. and marched and thought your job is done, Frank says you’re a fool. But NEM organizers also sent that message; showing up in D.C. was just on step of each attendee’s personal lobbying for equality.
Brian NJ
Did I hear him say the democrats are going to vote on a simple repeal of DADT maybe “EARLY NEXT YEAR!” Fuck them with this year shit. Our gay soldiers are getting kicked on their ass EVERY MONTH! What kind of self-loathing cave creature is this! Wow. BOTTOM of the list.
kelli Busey
Shuffle in? Useless. In 2007 Frank claimed transgender people had taken NO initiative to make ourselves and our agenda be known and used that excuse to drop us from human rights. Now he sounds like he has made a huge concession to allow us to remain in ENDA.
FRANKS. Human rights DO NOT exist for you convenience and political gain. Your your motivation in co sponsoring a gender inclusive ENDA in 2009 was PURELY self serving.
Gay and Lesbian people are recognizing what transgender people have known for a long time and you are very close to becoming a broken cog in the machine.
Clemburke
I know Barney Frank can afford False teeth , but does he not want to wear them?
Observer
The money used for that march could have been better spent. What did it really accomplish other than showing that we do know how to take to the streets?
Sorry, but I agree with ol’ Barn on this one.
Landon Bryce
I am aghast that anyone thinks a historic address by a popular president the day after he won the Nobel Peace Prize is not a significant thing, or that it would have happened without the march.
Harry Reid has pushed the White House on DADT and admonished his Mormon church on marriage. Neither of those thigns would have happened without the march.
Barney Frank’s office was unable to name a single thing he’s ever done for gays when I called them to let them know how angry I was that he was discouraging young gay people from being involved in politics. Call them yourself at (202) 225-5931 if you doubt me.
Fitz
At least if he keeps back peddling he might get in a good workout. How dare he minimize and discourage GLBT people from influencing their government.
Cinci Chris
The money used for that march could have been better spent. What did it really accomplish other than showing that we do know how to take to the streets?
Sorry, but I agree with ol’ Barn on this one.
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People, you need to understand the power of the media. As someone who works in advertising and public relations, the type of press this event generated simply can not be purchased! Social networking sites have been flooded with conversations ignited by the event, news stations have covered LGBTQ issues more in the past week than in this whole year, and people are energized and ready to turn their passion into action in their local areas. I have a meeting planned for this Sunday to get to work. What the hell are you doing?
Cam
Barney Frank never wanted to come out of the closet and never wanted to be the “Gay” congressman, other than the fact that it gets him some clout because other people think he has the gay communities ear. He wanted to be able to tell Obama that “I can keep the gays quiet and off your back, don’t worry” and Obama would pat him on the head and maybe give him a great job in the administration. Barney is only for gays when it can help him out. Other than that, he just wants to be in control and for us to shut up. Of COURSE he hates the march, it wasn’t organized by him, it showed Obama that Frank can’t call the shots in the gay community etc…
Swimmer - Chicago
Barney Frank – IDIOT! If anyone could use the marching activity he could – instead of all those cocktail parties he attends munching on puff pastry. The march got excellent coverage – certainly better than nothing – sure the media focused on Obama’s speech on Saturday night – but the march upped the pressure and the media coverage.
Fitz
And more proof that the march was heard: Obama is avoiding all public appearances while in SF today.
paulahare2
Barney Frank IS A UNCLE TOM
Ed Stevenson
All the march did was give everyone a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.
Frank is right: you should have used your time talking with your reps and getting something done.
You want to feel better? Get a snuggie. I want to get married!
Cam
No. 12 · Ed Stevenson said….
All the march did was give everyone a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.
Frank is right: you should have used your time talking with your reps and getting something done.
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Thats funny, becuase after it became apparently that the march was going through Obama suddenly decides to go talk to HRC. So please don’t try to tell me that the March, or Boycotting Franks DNC fundraiser did nothing. 2 days after the March Obama had contacted people in the Senate about moving on DADT. Again, interesting timing dont’ you think?
wondermann
Barney has a point. We still need to confront our congressmen and push our agenda through.
The march was inspiring, but we need political push. Go to the congressmen!
Fitz
Barney should have done both– he could have emphasized his belief in working the system to get an agenda passed, and he could have applauded the energy and activism (i.e. democratic participation). Instead he assured his reputation as an entrenched establishment fagot. And I use that word with ALL of the vitriol.
Gregoire
The march had multiple purposes, not just to get Obama’s attention. If that was the objective, we wouldn’t need a march, just a teleprompter.
The march inspired thousands of people, and it personally energized me to the needs of my community, more so than if I were just some jaded queen on a message board writing about it. I thank the organizers and offer a big FUCK YOU to our unfriendly representative in Congress.
Alan
Wow! Barney’s dismissive comments are arrogant and out of touch with this progressive movement. Exactly what has he and Congress given the GLBT community since he’s been in office besides DOMA, DADT etc..? His assumptions about the march and those who marched are unfortunate. It’s individuals who hit the Mall that give Barney and other Dems the opportunity to use their political capital to produce some results. I’ve not seen any results in decades. Mostly backwards in very damaging ways. What an insult!
hephaestion
Barney is right. In DC we have several “giant marches” here every fucking day. And no one in Congress ever sees any of them. They are useless.
Barney is right that we should copy what the NRA does. They never march but they get EVERY FUCKING THING that they want. They call call call their congressmen. If we focused on calling our congressmen all the time, by God we would get much more accomplished. No one was even in town to see the march last weekend, and even if you have a march on a weekday, the Congressmen don’t see them.
Justin O.
It makes me sad how many people here are attacking Frank based on his appearance and his weight rather than the content of what he’s saying.
Bill Perdue
Barney Frank is useless because he’s a Democrat.
• He’s a Democrat who thinks that change comes from the good intentions of a collection of seedy hustlers who’ll sell their mother to the highest bidder.
• He’s a Democrat who thinks that Congress can be reformed.
• He’s a Democrat who opposed the SF same sex marriage initiative of Mayor Gavin Newsome.
• He’s a leading member of Congress who helped Bush and Obama create a multi-trillion dollar welfare fund (TARP) for the uber rich and whose party supports austerity measures for working people.
• He led the attack on ENDA and accepted every amendment that bigoted business owners, crackpot cultists, anti-GLBT Democrats and Republicans offered. The upshot is that it’s very likely that new the version of ENDA will be very inadequate, even if it has provisions for inclusion of transgendered people.
• He opposed strict regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while he had a relationship with the director of those corporations. Barney claimed that there were no big problems with FM/FM in mid decade and now both are in conservatorship, a form of bankruptcy. To date the feds have given the two companies over $85 billion and that may climb to $200 billion by the end of the year as the second huge wave of foreclosures hits.
He’s a Democrat and as we all know all Democrat politicians are just Republicans in drag.
Steve
BULLSHIT!
Next year, the “Progressive” party gets my contributions.
If the “Democrat” party wants any money, they must enact the entire list of promises made before the last election, including repeal of DOMA.
Of course, I don’t live in Mr. Frank’s district. Some of those people may feel differently.
Brian
The March was so effective they are going to have them Monthly. Great.
Ed Stevenson
No. 19 · Justin O.
It makes me sad how many people here are attacking Frank based on his appearance and his weight rather than the content of what he’s saying.
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I am a chubby chaser anyway. I would do the man in a heartbeat
Ed Stevenson
No. 13 · Cam
Thats funny, becuase after it became apparently that the march was going through Obama suddenly decides to go talk to HRC. So please don’t try to tell me that the March, or Boycotting Franks DNC fundraiser did nothing. 2 days after the March Obama had contacted people in the Senate about moving on DADT. Again, interesting timing dont’ you think?
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Right and the protesters go home and nothing is done. It was all smoke and mirrors. He (Obama) did just enough to almost shut us up, knowing that once we leave we haven’t got the organization to follow through on anything except Sunday brunch
Josh
@#22 Brian
I agree. We should plan on Marching in D.C. at least every few months. A lot has already happened because of the first March. I knew if we got together and demanded our rights that we would get action.
Every Congressional District should have a few Marches each year, too. The part I like about marching to get our rights is that most of us can participate and it’s really easy.
We should March in January and try to get 1 million people. That should be enough to end DADT and DOMA.
I hope Cleve is listening. He deserves the credit. Harvey must be proud.
Brian
Thanks Josh.
If people just understood this:
the more we March, the more Equality we get. It’s so simple.
extrabatteries
i agree with you hephaestion.
just to add my two cents. barney frank is totally in the right. getting smart, and getting active is more than marching on washington. if you are going to march on washington to make noise, we’d need several tens of million of gays, not several thousand. there is nothing wrong with the march, of course not, its a great gesture – but it is only a gesture. washington is flooded with marches day and night, the national mall is the national soapbox.
but frank is pointing out the obvious, its not a means to an end. it is not an action of change in and of itself. look at what has worked, and what is working. if you want to ignore the changes society has gone through both culturally and politically, then put down the rhetoric and go back to reminiscing – the next generation of gays will take it from here, thanks.