In a new interview with CBS News' Ross Palombo, Barney Frank pretty much reiterates what he said to Towleroad in January about the legislature's near-term goals on LGBT issues, but he also talks about the constitutionality of same-sex marriage and the dangers of having it head to the U.S. Supreme Court at this point:
Says Frank, frankly: "I wouldn't want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia's got too many votes on this current court."
Frank's response reminded me of the incident which happened back in 2005 at an NYU Q&A where a student stood up and asked Scalia, "Do you sodomize your wife?" His explanation, which I've posted along with this Barney Frank interview, is still worth reading.
Both, AFTER THE JUMP…
And here is then-NYU student Eric Berndt's public statement in response to why he asked Scalia back in 2005 if he sodomized his wife:
"Debate is useless when one participant denies the full dignity ofthe other. How am I to docilely engage a man who sarcastically rantsabout the 'beauty of homosexual relationships' (at the Q&A) andbelieves that gay school teachers will try to convert children to ahomosexual lifestyle (at oral argument for Lawrence)?"
"Justice Scalia has no pity for the millions of gay Americans onwhom sodomy laws and official homophobia have such an effect, so it isdifficult to sympathize with his brief moment of 'humiliation,' as somehave called it."
"Beyond exerting official power against homosexuals, Scalia is anoutspoken and high-profile homophobe. After the aforementionedsarcastic remarks about gay people's relationships, can anyone doubthow little respect he has for LGBT Americans? Even if no case touchinggay rights ever came before him, his comments from the bench (thatemployment non-discrimination is some kind of "homosexual agenda,"etc.) and within our very walls are unacceptable to any self-respectinggay person or principled opponent of discrimination. The idea that Ishould have treated a man with such repugnant views with deferencebecause he is a high government official evinces either a dangerouslyun-American acceptance of authority or insensitivity to the gaycommunity's grievances."
"I am 17 months out of a lifelong closet and have lost too much timeto heterosexist hegemony to tolerate those who say, as Dr. King put it,"just wait." If you cannot stomach a breach of decorum when justifiedoutrage erupts then your support is nearly worthless anyway. At leastdo not allow yourselves to become complicit in discrimination bydemanding obedience from its victims."
