Barney Frank Invokes GOP Ire For Calling Gay Republicans ‘Uncle Toms’

Barney Frank is controversial on a good day, but get the openly-gay and recently gay married Massachusetts House Rep. has invited scorn from the Republican party for remarks made and and around the Democratic National Convention calling gay Republicans “Uncle Toms” and detailing why he believes their brand of accepting a lesser set of rights is the wrong way forward for all Americans, gay or straight.

Frank is known well to a wider audience nationally due to his outspoken nature and fiery demeanor, and he didn’t pull any punches when describing how he feels about gay Republicans during an interview with Sirius Satellite Radio.

Barney Frank made the distinction between the demand for rights and the demand for acceptance, saying that we have evolved well past the point of politeness alone being acceptable for gay Americans — he explained:

“One thing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have to say … maybe 30 years ago you could get some points for being personally nice to us while you were opposing our rights. We’re beyond that. That’s over.”

Frank then explicitly struck out at the Log Cabin Republicans and R. Clarke Cooper, their chair, in saying:

“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 said. “Mr. Cooper said, ‘Well at least they’re not saying bad things about us.’ That’s just extraordinary. 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.’”

Barney Frank is set to speak tonight at the DNC, and he said that in addition to gay rights, he plans to talk about his own experiences with Mitt Romney, working alongside him when Romney governed Massachusetts.

Frank explains that there are two Mitt Romneys — Mitt himself, and “Myth” Romney, the version built up by the GOP as some kind of mystical, job-creating hero that could leveraged-buyout ice to an eskimo. Frank says:

” … Mitt Romney — who was a hum drum governor of Massachusetts and not very successful with our economy. And then there’s Myth Romney – a superhero of job creation, He is a businessman — put him in charge and everything will hum. I wish Myth Romney had been governor of Massachusetts.”

Are you looking forward to seeing Barney Frank speak tonight at the DNC?