Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was scheduled to attend a Stonewall Democrats fundraiser in New York City on Sept. 30. AP Photo: Alex Wong.
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By KERRY ELEVELD
Monday, October 02, 2006
The U.S. House of Representatives has been cause for excitement all year for Democrats and liberals thirsting for a change in the Congress, but the LGBT community also stands to gain say some politicians and consultants.
Five weeks out from the Nov. 7 elections, pollsters generally agree that Democrats still have a good chance of picking up the 15 seats necessary to become the majority party. That would put the legislative agenda of the House entirely in the hands of the Democrats, who would decide exactly what comes to a vote and what doesn’t.
"It means no more anti-gay bills come up and some pro-gay bills come up, and we’ll pass some of them," said openly gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) in an interview last week. Frank was scheduled to appear at a "Take Back The House" fundraiser in the city for the National Stonewall Democrats and Stonewall Democrats of New York City on Saturday, Sept. 30.
"First of all, people won’t have to spend any energy fighting that stupid constitutional amendment because the Democrats won’t let it come up—that’s over," Rep. Frank said of the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment. He also said he believed they could garner enough support to pass a national hate crimes bill that would be "specifically trans-inclusive" and an employment non-discrimination act (ENDA).
"The problem of course with George Bush as President—we might get them passed in the Senate too—but he will veto it," Frank said. "At least, we will begin to establish that argument."
Frank also anticipated that the House Armed Services Committee would hold hearings to determine how much the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy is damaging military morale and preparedness. To date, more than 11,000 members of the armed services have been discharged on the basis of their sexuality.
Democratic consultant and LGBT activist Ethan Geto agreed that under Democratic leadership the House could move forward on both repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and passing a federal gay rights bill that focused on job protection.
"On both of those issues, a vast majority of the American public, including a majority of Republican voters, favor both of those pieces of legislation," Geto said, adding that polling data has indicated broad public support in both areas for years. Congressman Marty Meehan’s (D-Mass.) bill to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell now has 121 co-sponsors in the House.
Geto said the reason these pieces of legislation had not been taken up is because the Republicans have been pitching at their base of hard-core evangelical Christians. He also agreed with Frank that this legislation would have a chance of being passed in the Senate, even if it stayed under Republican control.
"If the House was moving on this stuff, I suspect we would win a majority vote in the Senate for both of those pieces of legislation even without it changing hands," he said. "The Senate is generally somewhat more liberal than the House is today."
A change that is slightly more symbolic in nature is that Rep. Frank would become Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, the highest rank ever held by an openly gay member of Congress.
As chairman, Frank said he would try to ensure that LGBT people in the financial services industry and private sector get treated fairly. Frank has openly gay friends at the New York Stock exchange who have felt the pressure of homophobia. "I think it does sort of make it harder to discriminate against somebody at a major financial services firm and then come and be nice to me," he said.
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