Will America Elect a LGBTQ President? In 20 Years, Says Barney Frank
"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.
"The country has made it very clear — full legal equality wins and prejudice loses," in a phone interview with Reuters.
"I believe the fight for LGBT rights has been won (in the United States)," he adds.
Frank fight for LGBTQ equality began in 1972 when as a Massachusetts state legislator he filed the state's first gay rights bill. It would take 15 years for him to come out publicly, a decision he regrets.
"I should have come out a little earlier," he tells Reuters.
"As 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," the Reuters story continues.
While he sees America on its way to full LGBTQ equality, he sees red flags in Donald Trump's policies, specifically those facing the trans community.
"If elected president, Democrat Joe Biden would repeal the current U.S. ban on new trans personnel in the military, Frank said, suggesting the military and Republicans would not object," writes Reuters.
"Biden is committed to getting rid of the trans ban in the military — and the Republicans won't defend it," Frank says.
Frank left Congress in 2013. The year before he married his partner Jim Ready, which made him the first member of the House of Representatives to marry someone of the same sex.
But also sees that he knew when to leave office. "In the U.S. Congress, you always speak for a limited amount of time and when the time you have been allotted is over, the presiding officer says, 'The gentleman's time has expired.'"
"I told my husband I want this on whatever marker we have," Frank said.
Frank currently sits "on the board of financial methodology and media company LGBTQ Loyalty — alongside tennis legend Martina Navratilova — which offers investors, through a third-party fund manager, the chance to invest in a basket of 100 Fortune 500 pro-LGBT+ rights companies. From last month, investors have been able to trade the LGBTQ100 ESG Index via a division of direct indexing firm C8 Technologies," Reuters reports.
"This a chance for people to advance their rights while making money off it," Frank says.