Barney Frank embarrassing himself on Lawrence O'Donnell's show.

[pnwmom]

11. True story. Openly gay men used to face arrest and jail and could never have been elected

to Congress.

But he's always been a leader in gay rights.

Your ignorance and contempt for a great man reflects poorly on you.

http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/03/16/393252976/barney-franks-journey-from-closeted-to-an-openly-gay-member-of-congress

In 1972, former Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., decided he would run for the state Legislature in Massachusetts — but he also explicitly decided to stay in the closet. And as he made this decision, he made a promise to himself to support LGBT rights.

"I could not live with myself if I did not oppose the discrimination," Frank tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.

That year, two organizations asked candidates for the state Legislature if they would sponsor a gay rights bill. Frank says he enthusiastically agreed, expecting a senior member to take the lead.

"I was a little afraid of [being out front] because I was 32, unmarried — other people would draw inferences," Frank says.

But Frank was the only member who won who said he'd sponsor the bill, so he did take the lead. Throughout that decade, Frank became an increasingly active and prominent leader of gay rights.

SNIP