Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank on
Wednesday cheered President Barack Obama's announcement in support of
gay marriage.
Frank, who will marry his long-time
partner Jim Ready in July before he leaves Congress, just last month
called Obama's
opposition to marriage equality a “problem.”
Obama
on Wednesday told ABC News' Robin Roberts: “I've concluded that
for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that
I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”
“Last year, President Obama took a
major step towards vindicating the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender people to marry when he announced his refusal to
defend the Defense of Marriage Act’s blatant discrimination against
us,” Frank said in a statement.
“Today he has taken the next logical
step to complete the process by expressing his support for our right
to marry people of the same sex. I understand why a President facing
a national election took some time in making this decision, and I
believe that the fact that he first announced his repudiation of DOMA
gave him a chance to assess the reaction to that. I know there are
those who wish that elected officials would completely ignore public
opinion – of course only in those cases where they do not agree
with public opinion – but that is not a realistic course in a
democracy for those seeking to get the authority from the public to
govern.”
“This does not mean that the
President’s decision today was entirely without some political
risk, but I believe it will be clear in the days ahead that this will
cost him no votes, since those opposed to legal equality for LGBT
people were already inclined to oppose him, and that it will make it
easier for us to mobilize the people in this country who oppose
discrimination to help reelect him.”