In addition to being a tireless advocate for his constituents and the American LGBT community, Rep. Barney Frank is well known for telling things like he sees ‘em. I find his candor and passion refreshing, especially in the often stilted world of contemporary American political discourse.
Three of my favorite examples of Rep. Frank’s famously quick wit follow below:
1.) In 1995, Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey infamously referred to Rep. Frank as “Barney Fag” in an interview. Armey retracted the slur and chalked it up to an innocent slip of the tongue. Frank responded: “I turned to my own expert, my mother, who reports that in 59 years of marriage, no one ever introduced her as Elsie Fag.”
2.) During the height of debate in the summer of 2009 over the then-proposed (and subsequently enacted) health reform bill, a constituent confronted Rep. Frank at a town hall meeting in Dartmouth, Massachusetts about his support for health reform, asking why he continued to support what she offensively termed a “Nazi policy.” Frank responded:
“On what planet do you spend most of your time? … You stand there with a picture of the President defaced to look like Hitler and compare the effort to increase health care to the Nazis. My answer to you is, as I said before, it is a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated. Ma’am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it.”
Watch:
3.) Rep. Frank made the following remarks at the enrollment ceremony in December 2010 where Speaker Nancy Pelosi signed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal law:
“Four years ago, a Republican running for congress in Indiana said… [that] if [his Democratic opponent] won, Nancy Pelosi would become speaker, and she would let me enact the ‘radical homosexual agenda.’ So let me own up to that agenda: it’s to be protected against violent crimes driven by bigotry, it’s to be able to get married, it’s to be able to get a job, and it’s to be able to fight for our country. For those who are worried about the ‘radical homosexual agenda,’ let me put them on notice: two down, two to go.”
Watch:
If you’re looking for more of Barney Frank’s greatest hits (including an epic takedown of Bill O’Reilly and a confrontation with our favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann), Elspeth Reeve at the Atlantic has a great compilation.
Gay teens in Massachusetts are far more likely to be homeless than their heterosexual peers, according to a new study from researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston.
The researchers analyzed a survey of more than 6,000 public high school students and found that approximately 25 percent of gay and lesbian teens and 15 percent of those who said they are bisexual were homeless, compared with just 3 percent of heterosexual teens who were homeless.
“It may be that their living situation is so difficult that they decide to leave home, and it may be that they are coming out and their parents are telling them, not under my roof,” said the study’s lead author, Heather Corliss, a research scientist at Children’s and an instructor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
Always remember, though: Fundamentalist Christians are the real victims of these culture wars.
Massachusetts is in the process of holding hearings for the confirmation of Barbara Lenk, who would be the first openly gay members of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. So of course, the wingnuts have come out to play:
Supporters spoke to the Governor’s Council hearing of Lenk’s “exceptional intellect .?.?. fairness .?.?. judgment .?.?. temperament” and unbiased adherence to the law.
Detractors spoke mostly about sex. Councilor Marilyn Devaney spoke of “penile/vaginal penetration” — David Funnell of the Commonwealth Covenant Keepers, of “bodily pleasures, unbridled sexual license” and the “militant homosexual subculture elevating their shame to status.”
Omnipresent anti-gay crusader Brian Camenker discussed some “disgusting,” “vulgar,” “profane” and “degrading” Concord Carlisle High School play about homosexual lovers, though it was unclear how that connected to Lenk.
At one point, the prose turned so wanton that Councilor Mary-Ellen Manning advised those under 18 to leave.
Of course Brian Camenker acted like a fool — he always does — but what is it with the anti-gay wingnut set and their obsession with sex? Is it because they live a chosen lifestyle that surrounds the entire topic with shame, and so any and all statements they make on it sound weird and prurient? [Yes.]
Later on, another councilor decided it was important to grill Lenk on how much she liked Dr. Kevorkian. Naturally.
Far from silencing them, though, I’m so glad that people like Brian Camenker take every opportunity they can to speak and speak loudly. They win people for our side every time they do.
This is bizarre, but we know the old adage about buzzards of a feather. Brian Camenker, leader of the notorious anti-gay hate group MassResistance, is urging his follower(s) to write in Scott Lively for governor of Massachusetts:
This week we are urging people to write in Scott Lively for Governor, against Charlie Baker.
Scott Lively lives in Springfield and is known as a major pro-family figure not only in the U.S. but internationally. He is an attorney, pastor (with a PhD in theology), pro-family activist, and author of several books. He also spent time as an international consultant on family issues with more than twenty years of ministry opposing the “gay” political agenda around the world.
Dr. Lively is founder of Abiding Truth Ministries, the Pro-Family Law Center, DefendTheFamily.com, and most recently the Redemption Gate Ministry Society in Springfield, Mass.. Over the past 20 years he has also lectured and consulted on pro-family strategies in more than 30 countries.
Like Glenn Beck, Rep. Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, the Tea Party Movement, MassResistance, and many more, Scott Lively has been demonized by the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a “hate group” – a disgusting tactic meant to marginalize effective conservatives. For his beliefs and activism he has withstood pressure that would overcome most people.
Lively is everything that Charlie Baker is not. He is principled, pro-family, pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-2nd-amendment, pro-religion, pro-parents’ rights, and utterly fearless.
There’s nothing quite like voting for someone you actually support, rather than the lesser of two (or three) evils.
And by thousands (we hope!) of people voting for Scott Lively as a write-in candidate in the September 14 Republican Primary, a very strong statement will be made to the RINO Republican establishment, especially since relatively few people vote in most primaries. Don’t assume you own us. What you’re selling, we’re not buying. The people running the Massachusetts Republican Party love to use social conservatives to do the grunt work on campaigns, but they arrogantly see themselves as above “dirtying” themselves with the principled issues that conservatives care about.
Whatever. It’s cute that an Iranian-style wingnut like Brian Camenker actually thinks that the other Republicans in the state of Massachusetts are like him. Does he really not know that he’s a pariah? Kyle at Right Wing Watch points out that this comes directly on the heels of the state’s Tea Party leaders showing and telling Camenker in no uncertain terms that he’s not welcome in their movement. When will social conservatives grasp the fact that they’ve rarely been more than useful idiots for the Republican party?
Gospel music on a Sunday afternoon? Sounds like a great idea.
But no city-supported music festival should preach prejudice against youths, nor promote ostracism and family strife in the name of God.
Yet notorious homophobe Donnie McClurkin, who has called gay people “vampires,” is appearing at Boston’s city-funded Gospel Fest on City Hall Plaza, on July 18.
Join the Impact MA, Truth Wins Out, and the Anti-Violence Project of Massachusetts are planning a counter-protest. McClurkin’s bigotry, his hostility toward LGBT people of faith and their families, his unhealthy contempt for sexual honesty, and his harassment of gay and lesbian youths — all are unwelcome in the cradle of liberty.
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 5 p.m.
Boston City Hall Plaza at Government Center
Claims to be “saved,” “sanctified,” and “delivered” from homosexuality
Admits he is still same-sex attracted, comparing his orientation to diabetes: “I don’t eat sugar, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t want sugar.”
What Donnie McClurkin has said and done:
Incited crowds in Barbados, where homosexuality is illegal
Says about young lesbians, “They can hide … but there are some evil young hard butch girls.”
Calls openly gay, well-adjusted young men “broken and feminine.”
Calls sexual honesty a “curse,” calls gay people “vampires”
Of fellow gay gospel singer Tonex, McClurkin says, “God did not call young people to such perversion.”
Projects his lies about his own orientation onto those who live honestly: “Anybody who has a lying problem: They get to the point where they hate having such a lack of character that they make a change.”
Massachusetts Department of Public Health official Alison Brill lent the department’s name late last year to an ex-gay activist program which offered to teach evangelicals how to “love and care” for suicidal gay teen-agers — by giving their families “hope.”
A PDF flyer for the project invited evangelicals to an event that was free of input from mainstream psychiatrists or psychologists. The event was sponsored by Massachusetts ex-gay activist Bill J. Henson Jr., who heads FOTOS Ministries, an ex-gay advocacy group.
Brill is the only presenter who appeared in a non-religious, professional capacity. She is a community suicide prevention coordinator, and her position with the state is used by the ex-gay organization to imply state approval of its ex-gay ideology and its potentially harmful advice to parents and churches regarding suicidal youth.
Instead of referring families and evangelical clergy to reputable mental-health professionals, the ex-gay event flyer boasted:
FOTOS Ministries helps the evangelical community love and care for gay people in the church. Many teens struggling through sexual and gender identity issues wrestle with suicidal thoughts. Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for all 10-14 year olds and the 2nd leading cause of death for all 15-24 year olds. Gay teens make up a sizable portion of these deaths. What can you do? Join us for this FREE seminar to learn more…
The flyer boldly promised attendees that they will witness “Personal Stories of Those Who Suffer” — presumably persons who identify as “ex-gay.”
The location of the seminar was kept secret.
Tom Lang of Know Thy Neighbor, a Massachusetts-based pro-equality organization, says that when he called Brill about her involvement, “she refused to discuss this with me. Evidently no one from the LGBT community knew about this AND she says ‘at least Henson does it with love.’ I told her, ‘Same message, different packaging.’”
The same flyer promised additional two ex-gay events for evangelicals in January:
Family Care: Helping evangelical families of GLBT loved ones transition from helpless to hopeful. We must love our GLBT family members where they are today. Gain biblical insights that will equip you for effective care. You are not alone…
Relational Orientation Counseling: Healing the relational “orientation” between parents and gay teens. Learn how to transform your church counseling. Stop demanding change and start healing relationships…
The events follow a typical “ex-gay” activist pattern of talking TO evangelicals ABOUT LGBT people — never allowing healthy LGBT people to speak for themselves and never acknowledging that LGBT people are qualified to lead religious, political, and professional communities.
Since then, Henson has expanded his media outreach, receiving free publicity from Associated Press “news” articles such as this one dated May 12. The article leaves Henson’s ridiculous claim about his own orientation undisputed: that he is no longer gay, even though his wife is the only woman in the world whom he is attracted to.
We have yet to see Henson or his events tell families that change does not happen; that most ex-gay activists later admit they had never changed; that ex-gay ministries’ claims about the “cause” of sexual orientation have been discredited; that LGBT people are entitled to be religious leaders, not followers; and that every mainstream U.S. mental-health organization agrees that ex-gay therapy is harmful.
Instead, we see someone who prolongs the suffering of youths by misleading their families and churches.
Social conservatives — abortion foes, gay marriage opponents, transgender rights critics — may sit out the 2010 election, a Massachusetts hard-line conservative activist said Tuesday, arguing that no statewide candidates for office have championed their views.
Brian Camenker, executive director of MassResistance, which pointedly opposes gay and transgender rights, said he hopes social conservatives punish the Republican Party by staying home in November, and he singled out Republican gubernatorial nominee Charles Baker as “tone deaf” on social issues.
“He thinks he can just be Bill Weld again and that’ going to work,” said Camenker, referring to the Republican governor elected in 1990 on a platform that largely eschewed divisive social issues. “It’ not going to be as effective as it used to be. I don’t think he gets it. I don’t think he understands the passion of people on this issue.”
Social conservatives, who typically identify more closely with Republican candidates in Massachusetts, are conflicted this year, with a gubernatorial race that features three major candidates — a Democrat, a Republican and an Independent — who agree on the validity of gay marriage and the right of pregnant women to choose whether to have an abortion.
You can laugh, because it’s funny. Do you remember how five minutes ago, they were all gleefully teabagging themselves over Scott Brown? And then, once he took office, he started voting with Democrats? And now, the poor dears at SPLC-certified hate group MassResistance have to contend with the fact that, literally, no one running for the highest office in Massachusetts cares what they think.
Again, you can laugh. I certainly am. It’s a beautiful day in the ever more culturally liberal United States when bigots go to the voting booth and find that no one’s on their side.
A Springfield, Mass.-area Roman Catholic priest has publicly called for Pope Benedict XVI (a.k.a. Joseph Ratzinger) to resign.
According to today’s Boston Globe, Rev. James Scahill of St. Michael’ Parish said the pope’s untruthfulness constituted a violation of an important tenet of Catholicism. The Globe added that Scahill “has long been outspoken on the need for accountability among church leaders.”
Unfortunately, his superiors are far less courageous.
Mark Dupont, a spokesman for the Diocese of Springfield, was quick to distance the diocesan leadership from the comments made by Scahill.
“It in no way represents the position of the bishop,” Dupont said. “We find his statements to be unfortunate.”
Focus on the Family blames committed gay couples for a lack of commitment among gender-biased heterosexual Christian couples.
On Oct. 9, Focus cited one supposed victim of marriage for gay couples: An antigay California couple whose marriage license was rejected after they marred it by crossing out inclusive language and replacing it with sexist language.
Focus also complained that an antigay New Jersey retreat, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, lost its special tax breaks after it violated its legal commitment to make a boardwalk pavilion equally available to all taxpayers in exchange for that tax exemption.
Focus further complained that two federal courts “rudely” foiled two Massachusetts antigay couples in their attempt to force overworked public-school teachers to warn them prior to any lessons that the parents deemed to be politically incorrect.
Also on Oct. 9, Focus on the Family indirectly protested California law which requires primary-school children to be educated about marriage. Again, it seems, Focus only wants kids to be educated about marriages that it deems to be politically correct — in other words, evangelical, heterosexual, and Republican.
In addition to being a tireless advocate for his constituents and the American LGBT community, Rep. Barney Frank is well known for telling things like he sees ‘em. I find his candor and passion refreshing, especially in the often stilted world of contemporary American political discourse.
Gospel music on a Sunday afternoon? Sounds like a great idea. 
According to today’s 
