As part of a promotion for his book Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage, former United States Congressman Barney Frank was at the Center on Halsted March 25 for a candid discussion about his life, days on Capitol Hill and opinions on LGBTQ issues including and beyond marriage-equality.
Prior to the sold-out evening, Frank engaged in a mixer with Mayor Rahm Emanuel which was closed to the press and seemingly activists like co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network Andy Thayer. In an email to Windy City Times, Thayer stated that despite having RSVP'd for a ticket well in advance of the mixer, he was denied access. An unsigned form rejection email received by Thayer from organizers stated that the event "received considerable interest from the community, and is oversubscribed as a result."
"The whole way it was handled is indicative of the lack of transparency we have seen from the mayor," Thayer told Windy City Times. "For those of us who remember Frank's career in politics as one who carried water for anti-gay policies of the Clinton administration, it shows contempt for grassroots activists in the LGBT community."
During the mixer, audience member Mary Dean was ejected. Organizers were heard calling for Center on Halsted security to remove her from the event during which Frank supported Emanuel's candidacy.
"When Rahm started speaking I talked about his closure of 51 schools in mostly poor neighborhoods and opening 60 new charter schools and the closure of mental health facilities," Dean told Windy City Times. "Other people in the crowd started yelling at me and at least two or three people came over to me to block and stop me. Security forcibly ejected me from the building by pushing me out as Chicago Police officers came running into the room. I was disappointed in the Center for inviting Rahm Emanuel there considering the fact that so many people are suffering in the city. It told me that both the Center and Emanuel just don't support poor people."
Windy City Times pulled out as a sponsor for Frank's appearance after Emanuel's staff declined both an interview and a debate on LGBT issues with opponent Jesus "Chuy" Garcia.
During the more accessible portion of Frank's visit, he sat alone on the Hoover-Leppen Theater stage, nursing a cold and looking back on some of the highlights of his political career as a closeted and then out gay politician in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.
"I knew I was gay but I held back," he told the audience. "Activities were limited, I would not ever make emotional connections and my career was advancing. Rather than being a compensation for the absence of a personal life, a good career exacerbated it. Going home alone made it worse."
Frank recalled that by the onset of the 1980s he was ready to retire from politics but it was Pope John Paul II who instead was instrumental in helping to advance him to becoming his district's state representative.
"The congressman from the district next to mine was a Jesuit priest, Father Robert Drinan," Frank said. "American Conservative Catholics got to the new pope and said 'this guy's killing us. He's not a good Catholic.' The pope accommodated that by announcing that no priest should be in politics. I ran in his place. Father Drinan did say subsequently that he was very eager to say [to the pope] 'you, know that business where you got me out of congress, did that work out?'"
Frank joked that he initially broke gay stereotypes by being a badly dressed cigar smoker. He also the challenged the audience on another misconception. "Of all the groups in the U.S. House of Representatives of any size the one that has been the most supportive of LGBT rights has been the Congressional Black Caucus," he said. "They've been more than the gay members. Not the openly gay members. [They] were the best. I believe there is something about the experience of having been treated unfairly because of some personal characteristic that makes you more sympathetic when it's done to other people."
When Frank decided to come out, he was warned by sympathetic colleagues like House Speaker Thomas 'Tip' O'Neill that it could mean the end of his career. "He was sad for me," Frank said. "He told a journalist 'I'm afraid our friend Barney is all through in politics. He's going to come out of the room.' Many of the most liberal members of congress said to me 'please don't do it' not because they had the slightest prejudice but because they said 'if you come out people will tend to limit your influence'. I wanted to be able to say 'I'm gay but it's not a big deal'."
"Even today and to my dismay there are people who know [they] are gay who vote to prohibit gay activity and they get away with it," Frank added. "That's hypocrisy. There is still a disparity between the social acceptability of being gay and the respectability of being a member of Congress. But the order has reversed. Folks are more accepting of you being gay than of being a Congressman. My marrying my husband as the first member of Congress to have a same-sex marriage was much more popular than my helping pass the Financial Reform Bill."
Ironically, Frank stated that those who are most eager to see the Supreme Court rule for same-sex marriage in June are "most Republicans."
"They have a voter base that insist they oppose same-sex marriage," Frank said. "They understand that is very bad for them electorally. They want the Supreme Court to decide the issue so they are no longer put between primary voters who want them to oppose us and general election voters who want to be for us."
During an audience Q & A, Frank noted that dysfunction in Congress has been caused by the right-wing movement of the Republican Party.
"Do not say 'a plague on both your houses' because this is caused by one party and not the other," Frank urged. "American politics began to deteriorate when Newt Gingrich—a man of consuming ambition, great tactical skill and I think no particular values—said 'we have to demonize the Democrats and say that they are evil, immoral, treasonous and corrupt.' The culmination of that is in the Tea Party. The Republican Party today is in the grip of people who do not understand that government has a positive role in our society. [They've] now gone off the rails and become a very right-wing party. They refuse to cooperate."
Frank asserted that the retaliatory religious-freedom legislation currently springing up across the country must be fought.
"This is a serious issue," he said. "Segregation was for a long time justified on religious grounds. Marching and demonstrating was important for LGBT people at first because we had to tell people that we were here. But they know that now. We don't have to do that anymore. It is a very ineffective way to follow through. When the left gets mad, they march. When the right gets mad, they vote."
Frank concluded the event by signing copies of his book.
