it might not replace all this. [ electricity crackling ] [ gasping ] so get allstate. you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me. [ dennis ] mayhem is everywhere. so get an allstate agent. are you in good hands? i just want to thank all the people in this room for what that made this possible for me. no, because what i thought was going to be a very tough time turned tout to be a surprisingly easy one. 25 years ago today democratic congressman from massachusetts barney frank chose to publicly reveal that he is gay. on that historic gay he became the first member of congress to voluntarily make such a revelation. 25 years later pollsters have
issues is a good one. it would be a lousy world that the only people concerned about mistreatment or the discrimination were the victims of it. congressman frank, it was as clear and as quick of an it gets better message as you could have imagined after coming out. there s no question. one of the things i regret, lawrence. a couple of people who immediately told me they were supportive, major republican senators. former senator al simpson. one of the things i regret is there s been a great progress made on diminishing privilege and hate in the country as a whole. unfortunately it s become partisan. the democrats have gotten better at a faster rate in the country. but the republicans have regressed. i look back nostalgically.
negative press he s been getting. the bullying story that came out a couple weeks ago. i thought it would have had a lot, you know, the repercussions would have been a lot worse. i m thinking, in light of all the negative press that s been coming out, the numbers are rising. we have seen the favorability movement in the washington post poll in mitt romney s direction. judith grey and karen finney. thank you both very much for joining me tonight. thanks. coming up, barney frank joins me on the 25th anniversary of his coming out as our first openly gay member of congress. how 25 years later we still live in a country where children are taught to sing hate songs about gay people in church. you will hear a 5-year-old spewing hatred in church to the rapturous joy of all in attendance. and the lies of newt gingrich about the lies of donald trump are in tonight s rewrite. and later, emmy winning writer
congressman frank, first of all, happy anniversary. thank you, lawrence. i remember so vividly your decision to do that and the statements you made at that time. i actually want to go to a clip of something you staid i can still remember quite clearly a short time after having come out and publicly announced that you re gay. let s listen to that. i had the fear that maybe if people knew, that they might not want to vote for me. so there was a sense of well that s not hanging over me anymore. on the other hand, i feel funny. it s a little bit late in life to become any kind of sex symbol. i feel funny. i walk around and get a sense people are saying, i wonder what he does. now we understand your work on gay rights. well, i m very proud of the fact that my voting record on womens
just quoted from john s piece there. whether they use it or not, there s another aspect of the massachusetts record that speaks directly to it. one of the reasons why romney left massachusetts and so unpopular is because he quit on the job half way through. he was elected in 2002. he was out the door by the end of 2004. he was using the office as a springboard. sarah palin had the integrity, if we can call it that, to at least leave the building and give up the the paycheck. john heliemann and steve kornacki, thank you both for joining me tonight. thank you, lawrence. coming up, 50 shades of mitt. karen finney and judith grey on how republicans are trying to win over republican voters. and 25 years ago today barney frank made history. he ll tell us what it was like to be america s first openly gay member of congress. and in the rewrite, newt gingrich pretends there s nothing ray cyst about the lies