Former representative Barney Frank has
toned down his opposition to Chuck Hagel as the White House signaled
the president would nominate Hagel to succeed Leon Panetta as
secretary of defense.
Multiple sources reported over the
weekend that the president could make his announcement as early as
Monday.
Speaking to the Boston
Globe, Frank said he was “hoping the president wouldn't
nominate” Hagel, but added that he was willing to look past his
anti-gay record because Hagel favors drawing down the war in
Afghanistan and reducing defense spending.
“As much as I regret what Hagel said,
and resent what he said, the question now is going to be Afghanistan
and scaling back the military,” he said. “In terms of the policy
stuff, if he would be rejected [by the Senate], it would be a setback
for those things.”
Frank was among those who criticized
Hagel's views on gay rights.
One incident from 1998 has captured the
most attention. In that year, then-Senator Hagel opposed James
Hormel's nomination as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg, saying Hormel
was a bad fit because he's “openly, aggressively gay.”
Last month, Hagel, a Republican,
apologized in a statement for the comments: “My comments 14 years
ago in 1998 were insensitive. They do not reflect my views or the
totality of my public record, and I apologize to Ambassador Hormel
and any LGBT Americans who may question my commitment to their civil
rights. I am fully supportive of 'open service' and committed to
LGBT military families.”
Frank was not appeased, arguing that
Hagel had a history of “aggressively bigoted opposition” to gay
rights.
“He voted consistently against
fairness for LGBT people and there does not seem to be any evidence
prior to his effort to become Secretary of Defense of any apology or
retraction of his attack on James Hormel,” Frank
said.
The nation's leading group representing
LGBT troops, OutServe-SLDN, said it accepted Hagel's apology but
wanted to see concrete actions.
“It will now be incumbent upon him
during the nomination and confirmation process to lay out
demonstrable actions he will take to support that commitment [to LGBT
troops and their families],” said Allyson Robinson, the group's
executive director.