Former congressman Barney Frank's
initial reaction upon hearing that Republican Representative Aaron
Schock had resigned was to ask whether he had been outed.
“He was outed or what?” the openly
gay Frank responded when Business Insider asked him to weigh
in on the development.
The 74-year-old Frank is currently
pitching his new memoir, Frank:
A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage.
Schock, 33, resigned in a statement
Tuesday amid questions about his use of federal funds.
Frank said that he did not know whether
speculation surrounding Schock's sexuality was true.
“I will say this, I don't know if
he's gay or not,” Frank
said. “But if he is, he's forfeited any right to privacy
because he votes anti-gay. My view is that people who are gay who
vote to support the right of other people to do it have a right to
privacy, but the right to privacy does not include hypocrisy.”
If the rumors were true, Frank said,
Schock should come out.
“Yeah, if they're true, and I don't
know that they are. I have to say, if they're not true, he spent
entirely too much time in the gym for a straight man,” he added.