It’s Barney Frank, so it’s unlikely anyone is going to be shocked when he says something a bit “out there.” And since he’s retiring, and this was his last Democratic National Convention as a member of Congress, maybe he felt even more free than usual. Whatever he was, or wasn’t, thinking, his remarks regarding the Log Cabin Republicans have certainly gotten attention. He made the comments while addressing the LGBT Caucus, and, according to Chris Geidner at BuzzFeed, Frank had made similar remarks earlier, on Michelangelo Signorile’s radio show.
From Geidner’s article, “LGBT Groups Distance Themselves From Barney Frank’s ‘Uncle Tom’ Charge
‘When they tell us that they’re happy to be Republicans because they’re getting acceptance and civility, I gotta say that I am again inclined to think that they’re called the Log Cabin club because their role model is Uncle Tom,’ Frank said …, prompting a mixed reaction from the crowd. …
Among those “distancing themselves” were Chad Griffin, who heads HRC:
‘That’s certainly not my perspective. The Log Cabin Republicans are good people doing good work.’
Rea Carey, the executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, went further, saying, ‘At the Task Force, we would never say something like that. …
Even the head of National Stonewall Democrats, a group that Frank helped form, took issue with the comments.
‘It’s definitely not the best language to use,’ executive director Jerame Davis said. ‘ … That is definitely not the position of Stonewall Democrats.’
Davis did hit back against LCR a bit, adding, ‘The truth is that they do play a certain role of kowtowing to the Republican Party in a way that borders on inappropriate itself.’
Which sort of sounds like “I have to say I don’t like the words but I actually like the sentiment.”
From LCR executive director R. Clarke Cooper:
‘We understand that Barney has earned his protected place within the Democrat Party by being their attack dog on gay rights issues, demonizing Republicans and undermining efforts at bipartisanship that would actually improve LGBT Americans lives. … ’
If you ever had the slightest doubt that LGBT politics are very, very similar to politics in general, you should now be disabused of such notions.
More, first from Matt Comer at Bilerico:
‘Frank calls us ‘Uncle Toms’ and pretends that Log Cabin hasn’t been on the front lines of the fight for equality,’ added (LCR’s) … Cooper. ‘The truth is, by speaking conservative to conservative about gay rights, Log Cabin Republicans are doing some of the hardest work in the movement, work that liberals like Barney are unwilling to do and couldn’t do if they tried.’ …
‘(Frank) has faced nearly 40 years of unspeakable hatred and persecution for being the most prominent and outspoken openly gay elected official in the country,’ Stonewall Democrats’ … Davis said … . ‘The true bullies are the hate-mongers in the GOP who want to strip us of our rights and shove us back into the closet. And ‘cowardly’? Cowardly is making pathetic excuses for the backward and misguided anti-LGBT policies of your Party. …
Also from Bilerico, E. Winter Tashlin writes:
The reality is that LGBT people operating within and on behalf of the Republican Party are giving their support to an organization whose own platform is radically opposed to equality for our community. Moreover, by remaining visible and vocal supporters of the GOP, they give the party social and political cover for their discriminatory positions. …
I won’t deny that Republican LGB(T) groups (the LCR is trans* inclusive …), and the Log Cabin Republicans in particular, have done some good and even invaluable work for our community. …
So Barney Frank made a hyperbolic (and somewhat racially charged) slur against LGBT Republicans. It wasn’t nice and it wasn’t entirely accurate, but the Democratic National Convention is his party … and if he wants to play the role of the old uncle who can’t keep his mouth shut about his cousin’s terrible taste in men, he’s earned the right to do so.
I don’t think it’s accurate to reduce “Uncle Tom” to a “somewhat racially charged” slur. I’m also not sure that the “old uncle” role necessarily means you get a pass on not “keeping your mouth shut.”
Finally, from Timothy Kincaid at Box Turtle Bulletin:
Last night, while Barney Frank was resting up in preparation for trashing Log Cabin Republicans before the DNC’s LGBT Caucus, the Los Angeles chapters of Log Cabin Republicans and Stonewall Democrats were co-hosting a fund raiser for Minnesotans United for All Families. And this, I think, illustrates a real difference between the old school power-broking party boss mentality and today’s pragmatic goal-focused community. And I, for one, am happy to be beyond Barney Frank.
About the general question of working from within both legacy parties, my perspective remains the same: there are people within each doing good work. There are also people, across the political spectrum, doing equally good work from outside the two party system.
Barney Frank has done amazing work on behalf of LGBTs. It would be silly, and disingenuous, to deny that. Barney Frank, however, had to learn to change his own perspective. For a big example, he initially, and for quite some time, refused to include transgender persons in ENDA. And, well before he could fit an “old uncle” role, to use Tashlin’s term, he made various remarks that were certainly as controversial as the “Uncle Tom” language. That doesn’t undo all his good, hard work, but neither does the good, hard work give him a pass to make comments that make coordinating efforts (as with the repeal of DADT, in which LCR played a significant role) more challenging than they already are.
(Barney Frank photo via FrankHouse.gov)
Log Cabin Rep may be good peole, but as long as they provide cover for bigots they are not doing good work.
LOVE Barney!
Have always loved Barney Frank because he always tells it like it is. Sometimes the truth hurts, and this is one of those times. Log Cabin Republicans support a party that finds them distasteful, immoral and sick. Taylor has hit the nail right on the head when she say’s “they provide cover for bigots”.
No question that LCR provides “cover” for the Republicans. It’s probably the criticism I’ve heard most often over the years. Of course, that’s what partisan political organizations often do, in both legacy parties. It’s integral to the system.
My thoughts are simply that, for example, while LCR as well as Stonewall Democrats do this “providing cover” thing, they can also work from within to do some pushing. One reason more and more young conservatives are supportive of LGBT rights is because of such work.
I, of course, am all about pushing from outside the system. For one thing, that helps holds organizations like Stonewall and Log Cabin accountable, along with holding Electeds accountable.
As for Frank, as I said above, he’s done amazing work on behalf of LGBT equality. He also had to do some evolving himself, over the decades. Of course, most of us do.
I’ve been told my comparisons are “rancid” but the plain, unvarnished reality is these LCRs and Blacks and Latinos who who are willing to give the racist, homophobic, misogynistic mob qa token gay or brown face in exchange for money and “acceptance” are on a par with the Jews who actually ran the camps day to day operations for the Nazis in exchange for a little more food and a short lived stay of execution. On one level it is understandable…but it is utterlt immoral and loathsome.
Joyce usually I am on the same page as you in your posts but “My thoughts are simply that, for example, while LCR as well as Stonewall Democrats do this “providing cover” thing, they can also work from within to do some pushing. One reason more and more young conservatives are supportive of LGBT rights is because of such work.” ?!!!! Reality calling….the repugnantklan/teabagger/UBERChristian mob is psychotically opposed to ANY rights for gays!
Yes, Sec, really.I know people who are Republican, especially at the local level, who work alongside those who are Democratic, Green, and Independent, for LGBT rights. , and I appreciate it. We generally disagree on most everything else, given my very liberal perspective. But working, for example, to add sexual orientation and gender identity to municipal nondiscrimination ordinances … yes, LGBT Republicans do that.
Of course recognizing that there are individuals working within the Republican party toward support of LGBT rights doesn’t give the party as a whole some kind of pass.The numbers are not huge, but they are increasing. There is the Young Conservatives for Marriage Equality group, for another example. These are the people who have the chance to eventually replace the “old guard” Republicans. I appreciate and support such people.
Personally, of course, I’m at the “too liberal to be comfortable with the Democratic Party.”
I was a lot more fond of Barney Frank and his mouth before he rolled over and begged for the banks, rather than trying to pass legislation that could have prevented another financial catastrophe like the one we saw in 2008.
Now, I just can’t help but remember that it was the LCR who brought suit against the DADT policy. How much longer would it have been before DADT was repealed if there hadn’t been a Republican gay rights group fighting a Democratic presidential administration in court? My guess is, given the general lack of interest on the part of that administration about gay rights, is “when hell froze over”. That’s actually an example of partisan politics working – the party that was supposed to be working on behalf of a constituency fell down on the job, and another, seeing an advantage perhaps, ended up pushing them in the right direction.
Most of us have more than one issue we’re concerned with, so I can’t blame gays for being Republicans any more than I can blame progressives for being Democrats.
So you’re saying Dems actively work to strip “Progressives” of basic civil rights and even advocate their deaths so it’s all equal?!!!!!!
Since they took office, the Obama Administration have done nothing to reverse the civil liberties overreach of the (Little) Bush Administration. In fact, they’ve expanded the government’s powers to include killing anyone they want, as long as they can get a couple of guys at CIA or DIA to sign off on them being terrorists. If you want to talk about going out and killing people you don’t like, let’s start there, shall we? What court of law was Anwar Al Alwaki tried in before he was executed? How about his son? Who convicted Bradley Manning of something where he deserves to spend the rest of his life in solitary? Who decided that the war crimes we’ve committed don’t deserve prosecution, but the people who blew the whistle on them do?
If you’re going to play that game, let’s play that game. Let’s talk about whether what the Obama Administration has done these last four years is something that we as a supposedly free society are ever going to recover from. I don’t think we have a chance in hell, because the people who should be making it clear that what they’ve done is unacceptable are playing empty-headed rhetorical games about shock jocks instead of acknowledging that we are on a path to becoming an authoritarian third world country regardless of who wins this presidential election, and that course won’t change until enough people at least acknowledge that’s true and figure out what they’re going to do about it.
Agreed, Cujo. Frank’s decisions regarding the banks is something I remember, too. Not happily.
And yes, LCR’s law suit related to the repeal of DADT played a significant role. The vote of a few Republicans is one reason, for another example, that New York is one of the few states were at least at the state level, same-gender couples can be legally married.
This is a very complex topic to post a quick comment about. So I won’t. I want to talk about this in depth but I need more time to gather my thoughts as they are mixed to say the least.
Suffice it to say I very much like Barney Frank and think he was incredibly courageous to come out when he did in 1987. For those of you who are not gay, I don’t know if you can understand how scared to death so many of us are to be frank about who we are. I’m still not out to everyone in my life. It’s one of the hardest things a gay person can do for variious reasons. Mostly because we don’t want to be rejected by our families and friends and colleagues.
So, I am one of those gay people who admire and respect Mr. Frank (how appropriate that name) for all he has done to make it a bit easier for all of us who share his sexual orientation if not all of his political beliefs or his long list of legislative votes and hence legacy in Congress.
But, I will never be anything but appreciative of this great man.
http://tinyurl.com/92pc8r6 In keeping with my comments about coming out and how difficult it is and has been for the majority of us (and that is why evey gay person in my life not only admires and respects Barney Frank but also unabashedly loves him), here is a video of the country singer Chely Wright, the country music singer who recently came out publically. I don’t think this could be expressed by anyone with any more grace, honesty and humanity.
I also cannot imagine a more difficult path than those who are Nashville stars who are gay who risk everything to come out to their family and friends and colleagues because of the conservative and religious tradition exemplied by the Ole Opry music Hall. And, this woman who at one time put a gun in her mouth ready to pull the trigger, came through it all to be the woman you see here in his video.
This is a film I saw over this weekend about Chely Wright called, “Wish Me Away” Here is a teaser of that film and just wanted to share it with this blog and those of you with whom i feel a connection.
http://tinyurl.com/8vwqb3a
I strongly feel that people like Barney Frank made it possible for people like me and Chely Wright to be who they are when being who you are could be detrimental to who you are. And, the struggle that goes on for so many of us.
Actually, I’d say he did us all a favor by coming out back then. It certainly took some courage back then, too. That doesn’t cancel out my annoyance at his later legislative record, nor does it make me agree with him about this.
Most politicians of Frank’s stature end up doing things we like and don’t like. Whether the good outweighs the bad is what we all have to consider, and that’s going to be a personal judgment for each of us.
Cujo, thanks for this. Among many other things, I appreciate your focus on the fact that it’s likely there will always be things we like, and things we don’t like, related to Electeds. That seems very important to me: I can respect, in this case, Barney Frank, without ignoring the decisions he’s made with which I disagree. The same is true regarding, in this case, LCR. With LCR, there’ much more with which I disagree, but that doesn’t prevent me from appreciating their decisions and actions with which I agree.
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That doesn’t cancel out my annoyance at his later legislative record, nor does it make me agree with him about this.
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What made you think that just because I didn’t criticize Barney Frank in this post for some of his votes that, like you, I disagreed with especially for the toothless Dodd-Frank law, that I’m ignoring that record.
My post was to thank him for his great courage in coming out at a time when it could have been dangerous not only to his earning a living but to his own personal safety. And, how he has inspired so many of us to try to do the same or at the least to live our lives without shame as much as we possibly can. I wanted to make that point and I did.
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Most politicians of Frank’s stature end up doing things we like and don’t like. Whether the good outweighs the bad is what we all have to consider, and that’s going to be a personal judgment for each of us.
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I get that, Cujo. I think that is what is called a truism.
Thanks for taking time to “gather your thoughts” and share them, newdeal.
Coming out is a very individual kind of decision, of course. For those who do it on the national stage, the complexities are different again.
Frank, as I said, has done tremendous things for LGBTs. That includes his own evolution, most particularly, regarding transgender persons. Along with, among others, HRC, the original ENDA was not inclusive. I know, from talking with friends who are transgender, how hurtful that was. It was the work of LGBTs, individuals and organizations, who insisted on an inclusive ENDA that eventually brought HRC and Frank around. That Mr. Frank was willing to change his position was very significant. I respect him as much for that as for anything else. I do wish he’d not used “Uncle Tom” language, however.
Chely Wright was a guest on Queer Talk Radio (in Nashville, which I created and hosted for nine years, and continue to produce), and is an amazing person, with a powerful story. In addition to everything else, she reaches out and supports LGBTs and allies.
Having lived in Nashville for about 20 years, there was never a question that there were lesbian and gay people on Music Row, including stars. Wright was courageous in coming out.
As I said to cujo, there was a point to my post that simply wanted to acknowledge what Frank had done for so many gay people (and in my social circle) and how difficult it is for so many of us to do what he did on such a large stage in our own lives. And, my purpose was to try and impress upon those in this community who are not gay why Frank has played an important role in making a very difficult personal situation for so many of us a bit less explosive.
As I also said to cujo, not being critical of some of Franks positons in this one post never meant that I agreed with or condoned them. Other people like cujo made that point very well about Frank with which I agree. All I wanted to do is what I did in that post. Nothing more nor less.
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Chely Wright was a guest on Queer Talk Radio (in Nashville, which I created and hosted for nine years, and continue to produce), and is an amazing person, with a powerful story. In addition to everything else, she reaches out and supports LGBTs and allies.
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Neat! I wasn’t aware of your Radio program. I’ll make it my business to listen to it. If you would provide a link, I’d appreciate it.
Wright is one righteous and courageous woman. I have enormous respect for her in every possible way. She’s a great role model for kids and adults who struggle with being gay or for just being different.
Giving credit to Frank, as you did, is important and appropriate, no question
Joyce, can you provide a link for your radio show? Much appreciated.