Ex-Rep. Barney Frank, gay trailblazer, praises House passage of same-sex marriage bill

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : The legislation does not force a state to allow same-sex marriages but does require them to recognize a union that occurred in another state.
48% : Former Rep. Barney Frank, the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay, attended Thursday's historic House vote to protect same-sex and interracial marriage and praised legislators for their work.
45% : The new law will repeal a DOMA provision that allowed states to discriminate against same-sex couples, adding that "an individual shall be considered married if that individual's marriage is between 2 individuals and is valid in the State where the marriage was entered into."
44% : (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo) Enthusiasm for codifying protections for same-sex marriages increased this summer after the Supreme Court's conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade and stripped millions of Americans of access to abortion.
40% : Frank was one of just 67 House votes against the law, which was struck down by a series of Supreme Court decisions, culminating in 2015's Obergefell v. Hodges, which ruled that same-sex couples had the right to marry.
34% : His comments come as Republicans across the country have increased their anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislative proposals while law enforcement has warned of potential threats to the community.
25% : It's kind of a New Orleans moment: We are tooting our horns for the funeral, a much happier occasion than the birth." DOMA, which banned the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage, was passed by Congress in 1996 and signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton.
14% : Load Error "Tammy, through her own life experience, understood what troubles this caused for same-sex married couples all over the country and she understood that resolving those fears was much more important than any political issues," Frank said.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.