Barney Frank sees gay equality “…in my lifetime…”

The highest-profile openly gay lawmaker in the US predicts that we soon could see an end to legalized discrimination based on sexual orientation. “We are on the verge of major breakthroughs,” Representative Barney Frank told the Reuters Face of the Future Summit. He’s positive about President Obama’s decision to stop defending DOMA, and a vote by Congress that will lead to an end of the ban on gays serving openly in the military. “I can foresee now an end to legal inequality based on sexual orientation and gender equality some time in my lifetime,” said Frank, who turned 70 three days ago.

The Massachusetts lawmaker, who plans to seek a 17th term in the House of Representatives in elections next year, said that once he retires, he would like to write a history of GLBT rights.. Frank was elected to the Massachusetts state legislature three years after riots following a police raid of the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan set off the modern gay rights movement.