[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 156 (Wednesday, December 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2467-E2468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        A PRINCIPLED REPUBLICAN'S CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR FAIRNESS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 7, 2005

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, when I was a Member of the 
Massachusetts Legislature in 1973, I introduced legislation to protect 
gay and lesbian people against discrimination. To the surprise of 
many--myself included--one of the strongest champions of that bill 
turned out to be a Republican State Senator from a socially 
conservative part of Massachusetts, Robert A. Hall. As he describes in 
the attached article, he had not thought much about this before, but 
when he listened with an open mind to the issues involved, he became a 
supporter. When he found that he was in fact the only one willing to be 
the floor manager for the bill on the floor of the Massachusetts 
Senate, he took that on, in the face of a great deal of political 
wisdom that said he was making a mistake. As he noted, he went on to a 
very successful further career.
  Bob Hall's article in the Madison, Capital Times continues his work 
in defending fairness. His arguments on the marriage issue seem to me 
irrefutable, and they come with great credibility given his background 
and his current set of views. Since it is apparently the intention of 
the Republican leadership once again to bring a Constitutional 
amendment before the House that would prevent States from making their 
own decisions with regard to same-sex marriage, I think it is very 
relevant that Mr. Hall's persuasive argument be printed here.

                 [From the Capital Times, Dec. 1, 2005]

                 Anti-Gay Bill Won't Help Your Marriage

                          (By Robert A. Hall)

       I'm opposed to a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay 
     marriage, now being considered by the Wisconsin Legislature.

[[Page E2468]]

       Oh, I know, I'm an unlikely champion of gay rights. I'm a 
     Marine Vietnam vet who has deep regrets about that war--
     mostly I regret that we didn't kill twice as many of those 
     totalitarian murderers. I hope we do better in Iraq.
       I believe the ``out-now crowd'' are racists who think the 
     Iraqis are too inferior to deserve democracy. Or they don't 
     care, as long as America is defeated and George Bush 
     embarrassed.
       I worked hard to defeat John Kerry last November, and will 
     do so again, if he runs.
       And I'm a death penalty advocate who thinks we should run 
     it like a barbershop--two chairs, no waiting.
       As a member of the Massachusetts Senate, I regularly voted 
     against increasing the state budget more than any other 
     senator.
       And don't get me started on guns. I'm not for mandatory 
     concealed carry, but I do think fondly of how polite folks 
     were in the days when gentlemen wore swords.
       Living in Madison, I feel a certain kinship with the 
     Israeli ambassador to Baghdad. While I think of myself as a 
     centrist Republican with a libertarian bent, to the average 
     Progressive Dane voter, I'm a fascist pig.
       So how did I become a supporter of gay rights?
       In 1973, Massachusetts State Rep. Barney Frank had filed 
     bills prohibiting employment and housing discrimination on 
     the basis of sexual orientation.
       The bills came before a committee on which I served. There 
     were a lot of jokes and nudging going on--this was the early 
     '70s. Appearing to testify was a bright and charming woman, 
     Elaine Nobel, who would later serve as a state 
     representative herself. Elaine convinced me that 
     supporting Barney's bills was the right thing to do. I 
     told the chairman, Sen. Allen McKinnon, to record me in 
     favor of them.
       The bills received a favorable report--but no one in the 
     committee's Democratic majority was willing to carry (be 
     floor manager) for them. So, my back up, I volunteered.
       The Republican floor leader had a minor stroke when he 
     learned I was carrying gay rights bills. He had only seven 
     Republicans out of 40 senators. I was 27, single and holding 
     a seat I'd won by nine votes out of 60,000 cast. The common 
     wisdom was that I was a one-term wonder who caught the 
     incumbent senator vulnerable but couldn't be re-elected.
       I suspect that I may have been the first legislator in the 
     country to speak for gay rights on the floor of a state 
     legislature. McKinnon spoke for the bills after me. On the 
     roll call, only six senators voted in favor--McKinnon, four 
     other Democrats and myself. And the bills were dead that 
     year.
       But I won the next election by 10,000 votes, carrying every 
     city and town in my working-class Democratic district. More 
     legislators decided that supporting anti-discrimination was a 
     safe thing to do. Today, it's the law in Massachusetts--which 
     strangely doesn't seem to have collapsed because of it or 
     because of the gay marriage decision there last year.
       Trust me, no true heterosexual wakes up and thinks, hey, 
     I'm really angry with my partner. I think I'll try dating 
     someone from my own gender from now on.
       So who is destroying traditional marriage in America?
       How about men--and increasingly women--abusing their 
     spouses? How about the heterosexual trend toward infidelity, 
     led by the example of our highest elected leaders? How about 
     men fathering and then abandoning children to poverty and 
     state support? How about a large number of straight people 
     deciding serial marriage and divorce is a cool lifestyle?
       Doing something about those trends would really protect 
     marriage.

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