What I later learned was he had been on heroin and had been arrested and had been on probation and he was forced to stay off drugs so he was on his very best behavior when I met him. And then, after a couple of times, he was very intelligent, well spoken. On his relationship with male prostitute Stephen Gobie and the resulting fallout The best humor is offered up by the stupidity of your opponents. My response was: "Well, it doesn't hurt any individual marriages, but despite that it somehow hurts the institution of marriage? That is an argument of someone who ought to be in an institution.". "The best humor is offered up by the stupidity of your opponents."Īnd one guy got up, Steve Largent from Oklahoma, and he said, "Well, I'll tell the gentleman this: No, it doesn't hurt my marriage, it doesn't hurt the marriage of other people here, but it hurts the institution of marriage." He came out publicly in 1987 - and in 2012 became the first member of Congress to enter into a same-sex marriage. Frank was elected to Congress in 1980 after serving eight years in the Massachusetts Legislature. It turns out, Frank not only participated in it, he was an open champion for the latter part of his career. "And I was increasingly depressed by the disparity between my advocating the rights for everybody else and then denying myself any chance to participate in it," he says. Throughout that decade, Frank became an increasingly active and prominent leader of gay rights. "I was a little afraid of because I was 32, unmarried - other people would draw inferences," Frank says.īut Frank was the only member who won who said he'd sponsor the bill, so he did take the lead. Frank says he enthusiastically agreed, expecting a senior member to take the lead. That year, two organizations asked candidates for the state Legislature if they would sponsor a gay rights bill. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Frank Subtitle A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage Author Barney Frank
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