Barney Frank on the Supreme Court's gay-marriage ruling: 'I cannot wait to see Justice Scalia's reaction'

Barney Frank is pretty confident about the Supreme Court and gay rights — (Image credit: Late Night)

Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is pretty bullish on the Supreme Court recognizing a national right to same-sex marriage, he told Seth Meyers on Tuesday's Late Night, though he said he hadn't read much about the oral arguments that took place earlier in the day. He's excited, Frank added, because he has a husband, and because "I cannot wait to see Justice Scalia's reaction. I'm speculating that like Rumpelstiltskin he will stamp his foot and go up in a puff of smoke." Meyers laughed, "That would be something to see."

Frank said he was surprised by the rapid change in attitudes toward gay rights, and he attributed the shift to gay people coming out to their friends and families and the collapse of arguments about how gay rights harm anyone: "Reality beats prejudice." When he started out in politics in the 1970s, he thought he could never win elections, "because I'm gay, and everybody hates gay people, and you gotta be popular to be in politics," Frank said. "By the time I retired, being gay was much more popular than being a congressman." —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.