Barney Frank: Bernie-or-Busters must defeat Donald Trump
by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
The first openly gay Attorney General in the United States, Maura Healey of Mass., introduced openly gay former Representative Barney Frank to the stage at the Democratic LGBT caucus, calling him a trailblazer and a “hero of the [LGBT] movement.”
She first announced her support for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the first woman in a major party to be nominated for president in the history of the United States.
She said Clinton’s goal and the goal of the LGBT caucus is to rid the country of discrimination.
“We’re all people,” she pleaded.
Frank accepted her introduction and walked on stage saying, “I will say…you are not supposed to preach to the converted…[but] I want to arm you with the facts you need.”
He jokingly said that there was a difference between GOP nominee Donald Trump and Dem. nominee Clinton.
A break in the start of his speech inserted the mention of his boyfriend. In a quick anecdote about being assumedly straight, he said there was an important philosophical principle put forward by comedian Henny Youngman. He would say, “How’s your wife?” and respond, “Compared to what?”
Frank continued, saying he had two points to make.
He wanted to improve the candidates and fight to expand possibilities. In other words: Now is the time to make a choice – but what’s the choice? Because now is that time.
He said it seems that the GOP candidate, Trump, and his associates and constituents are concerned with foreign invasion and protecting the American people.
Sardonically, he said that gay men are less concerned with foreign invasion because they have other things to worry about, such as LGBT rights.
Referring back to Donald Trump, he said, “Protection from people motivated by hatred…seems an ineffective form of protection.”
The same people who are obsessed with protecting the people from foreign invasion are opposed to every other kind of protection, Frank decried.
Calling the late Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia a “highly placed militant homophobe,” he continued through a standing ovation and cheers, bringing up Obama’s executive order that if you take federal money you can’t discriminate against the LGBT community.
“If you’re going to dip your fingers in the federal till, you can’t complain if democracy rubs off on them.”
He also said that those who decline to vote for Clinton and who booed for her at the DNC, the Bernie-or-Bust protesters, were mainly white and are betraying the LGBT and African American community. This is a fight for racial justice and for the rights of all LGBT people.
“Please do not tell me you’re dedicated to relieving…prejudice and unfairness and people [being] treated unequally, but ignore the important issues of fairness for African Americans and LGBT people.”
This thought-provoking message preceded a call for progression, as he said, “One guy was like, ‘I remember when [gay] was just [referred to as] ‘g’. I’m 76-years-old – I remember when it was just ‘f’,” or faggot.
Frank said that we have a candidate so overwhelmingly opposed to LGBT rights that the Bernie-or-Busters’ decline to vote is appalling and encouraged the crowd to confront their friends about the issue.
“Don’t let anyone tell us they’re going to disregard the cause they say they agree with and then not do everything they can to defeat Donald Trump.”
Copyright The Gayly - 7/27/2016 @ 1:59 p.m. CDT