Openly gay Massachusetts Congressman
Barney Frank says he believes gay marriage has lost its political
wedge.
The 71-year-old Frank made his remarks
during a
wide-ranging interview with Playboy
magazine.
While Frank said he doesn't see the
federal government embracing marriage equality in the near term, he
added that a greater number of states will.
“I don't see anything about gay
marriage happening on a federal level,” he told the magazine.
“More and more states will go that way, though. When they do,
people will see, as with health care and the repeal of 'Don't Ask,
Don't Tell,' that there are no negative consequences. Places that
have gay marriage have had none of the negative consequences that
people warned us about. Zero. The divorce rate hasn't gone up.
There have been no calamities. Marriage hasn't lost its meaning.
Same-sex marriage as a divisive issue is losing its steam. Overall I
think anti-gay prejudice is on its way out.”
“Overall, anti-gay prejudice is
diminishing,” he added. “It won't be used by the far right the
way it once was. It just doesn't work anymore. But I worry about
what will replace it.”