‘It means no more anti-gay bills come up and some
pro-gay bills come up, and we’ll pass some of them.’
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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