Openly gay U.S. Congressman Barney Frank addressed the attendees of the International Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference at a lunchtime panel today.

“Don’t accept the argument that somehow we’re a political problem,” Rep. Barney Frank said.

Frank expressed optimism for the future of the LGBT movement during his luncheon remarks, claiming that the 2006 and 2008 election results have disproven the idea that supporting equality is a political liability. This reverses the trend from 2002 and 2004 when gays were used as a “political weapon.”

“No one can tell us ‘hold back, you’re a problem,’” he remarked.

Furthermore, he said, the new Congress will likely pass a fully inclusive hate crimes bill “early on.” Frank also indicated that he has hopes for the passage of a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

He even predicted full equality in less than 20 years, dismissing the idea that the goal is unattainable.

“I would make it a misdemeanor to use the words pragmatic and idealistic as if they were opposites.”

According to Frank, the movement has reached a cultural turning point. As more and more people live openly as LGBT, the time has come to ask more of the community’s allies.

“Loving us is incompatible with voting for those who hate us,” he said. “We are no longer a group on the outside trying to persuade people to be supportive.”

Photo by: Wai Ki Ricky Leung