Barney Frank slams Log Cabin Republicans

You can pretty much count on Rep. Barney Frank, the first openly gay member of the US Congress, to speak his mind.

He will be doing so tonight during as speech at the Democratic National Convention but warmed up a bit in an interview.

‘I now understand why they call themselves Log Cabin: their role model is Uncle Tom,” Frank tells Michelangelo Signorile of The Huffington Post. “Frankly I’ve been appalled to see the Log Cabin club, in the face of this worse and worse record on public policy by Republicans on our issues.”

Frank, who is retiring from Congress in November after more than three decades in office, singles out Log Cabin Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper in the interview.

‘Mr. Cooper said, ‘Well at least they’re not saying bad things about us.’ That’s just extraordinary,’ Frank says. ‘Again, 30 years ago when we were emerging from the vice of prejudice, I understood that. But no, we shouldn’t be accepting a kind of second class citizenship, [and saying], ‘You can treat us badly as long you don’t yell at us.’”

‘They’re accepted on [the GOP’s] terms,’ he adds. ‘They’re willing to be accepted with no rights — no right to marry, no right to serve in the military, no right to be protected against hate crimes, no right to be protected in employment. I’ll be honest: For 20 years now I’ve heard how the Log Cabins are going to make Republicans better, but they’ve only gotten worse.’

To read more, including Cooper’s reaction, see my story over at Gay Star News.