While in office, Frank was instrumental in passing landmark legislation to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis. "Biden is committed to getting rid of the trans ban in the military – and the Republicans won't defend it," he said. ban on new trans personnel in the military, Frank said, suggesting the military and Republicans would not object. ![]() If elected president, Democrat Joe Biden would repeal the current U.S. The issue of trans rights remains a concern, he said. Supreme Court ruling in favour of LGBT+ workplace anti-discrimination laws. ![]() "I should have come out a little earlier," Frank said, citing one of his few regrets in a six-decade political career.Īs an openly gay lawmaker in the late 1980s and '90s, decades scarred by the advent of AIDS, Frank paved the way to this year's presidential run by Democratic contender Pete Buttigieg.Įven under Republican President Donald Trump, whose administration has pushed some anti-LGBT+ policies, "we have made some progress", Frank said, citing the recent U.S. "I believe the fight for LGBT rights has been won (in the United States)."īorn in New Jersey, Frank, 80, has a long and storied past as a civil rights campaigner.Īs a state legislator, he filed Massachusetts' first gay rights bills in 1972.īut it would be 15 years before he publicly came out, in the process becoming the first openly gay member of the U.S. "The country has made it very clear – full legal equality wins and prejudice loses," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview. LONDON, Aug 13 (Openly) - The United States will elect an LGBT+ president, but it might take another 20 years before the rainbow flag flies metaphorically over the White House, according to former Congressman and veteran civil rights campaigner Barney Frank.Īttitudes toward the LGBT+ community have shifted "significantly" since he was first elected to Congress from the northeastern state of Massachusetts in 1981, Frank said. He has taught at Harvard, Boston University, the University of Massachusetts Boston, and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.'I should have come out a little earlier,' Frank said, citing one of his few regrets in a six-decade political career In addition, he has written two books: Speaking Frankly, in 1992, a critique of some aspects of the Democrats approach to public policy and a political memoir published in 2015 titled Frank: From the Great Society to Same Sex Marriage. An unvarnished example of when the personal meets the political, with incredible “bare all” access, this documentary reveals Frank as one of the most sharp-tongued, entertaining, and lionhearted politicians of our time. On the verge of his retirement, Frank reflects on his 40 years in office and the role his own homosexuality played in his campaigns for social justice. In the film, Frank gives a rare and intimate peek into the life of Barney Frank as a quick-witted, cantankerous, and first openly gay Congressman in the United States. In 2014 a documentary titled Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank was released. In 1987 he became the first Member of Congress to voluntarily acknowledge that he is gay, and in 2012 became the first Member of Congress to marry his same-sex partner, James Ready. He also led passage of the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act, a measure that drew praise from editorial boards and consumer advocates. ![]() He was co-author of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the regulatory overhaul signed into law in July 2010. ![]() He championed the interests of the poor, the underprivileged, and the vulnerable, and he won reelection 16 times by double-digit margins.Īs Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Frank was instrumental in crafting the short-term $700 billion rescue plan in response to the mortgage crisis, and he then worked for the adoption of a sweeping set of financial regulations aimed at preventing a recurrence. He was also a leader in the fight against discrimination of various sorts. In particular, he focused on providing aid to local communities and to building and preserving affordable rental housing for low-income people. While in Congress, Frank worked to adjust America’s spending priorities to reduce the deficit by providing less funding for the military, thereby protecting funding for important quality-of-life needs at home. Barney Frank served as a US Congressman from 1981-2013 and Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee from 2007-2011.
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