An Adult in the Room

For John, BLUF:  Here is a moment to be proud of Barney Frank.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Barney Frank to LGBT Voters: ‘People Have a Right to be Bigots,’ Don’t ‘Trash Them in Return’

From PJ Media, by Mr Nicholas Ballasy, 6 June 2018.

Here is the lede plus four:

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling in favor of a baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex couple, former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said that people “have a right to be bigots,” which is not “a license to trash them in return.”

“It was a very narrow ruling and there’s a lesson in there for LBGT people and advocates and others.  Be careful.  The fact that there are bigots who trash us is not a license to trash them in return.  Yes, it’s important to stand up and call bigots ‘bigots,’ but don’t make illegitimate complaints about them,” Frank said during a discussion about the history of the LGBT movement on Tuesday evening at the Newseum, which plans to open its new exhibit “Rise Up:  Stonewall and the Gay Rights Movement” next March.

Frank, who came out as gay in 1987 as a member of Congress and served until 2013, noted that Justice Anthony Kennedy authored the majority opinion in the Colorado baker case but wrote all of the past pro-gay opinions.

“He was moved to decide this in part because people on the Colorado Human Rights Commission may have been well-intentioned, but they were mean-spirited when they made nasty comments about religion.  And so there’s a very important point for people on our side to understand:  You can’t have a one-way standard,” said Frank, who became the first sitting member of Congress to enter into a same-sex marriage in 2012.

“Secondly, yeah, the ruling is very limited.  I think it’s very clear if you are a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, whatever your sexual self-description is, you will not be legally denied any service that is normally provided to others.  Let’s be clear:  that’s a given.  The question is, if you want something specifically tailored to reflect your interests as a lesbian couple or as transgender people, how far can you go?  And it is logical, yes, people have a right to be bigots and you have some limits on what you could have people sign on to,” he added.

Representative Barney Frank, who can be pretty acerbic, hits the right notes here.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff