BTL photo: Jason Michael

The next best thing: U.S. Rep. Barney Frank talked to Ford GLOBE through the miracle of modern technology.

DEARBORN via WASHINGTON, D.C. - The interesting thing about lgbt politics, according to U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, is that "we have helped America realize a very important fact, which is that the average American is not nearly as homophobic as he thinks he's supposed to be."

The openly gay representative from Massachusetts shared these and other words of wisdom at Ford GLOBE's Gay in 2k: Celebrating our History, Building our Future conference on Oct. 26. But though the crowd gathered at Ford's PDC Showroom in Dearborn to hear the congressman, he was speaking to them from Washington. Business on the Hill kept Frank in Washington, but thanks to technology he spoke live to the conference through teleconferencing.

"I was hoping against hope that he would still be able to make if we could get him on a later flight," said Ford GLOBE's Robert Wagner, who had only a matter of hours to come up with a viable alternative. "I said let's set up an audio feed at least. I was thrilled that we were able to see him and do a question and answer period."

And Frank appeared happy too, taking on quite a number of topics in his signature style, best described by the Almanac of American Politics as "part political theorist and [part] pit bull." Not surprisingly, many of Frank's comments centered on the themes of next week's election, and his illustrations therein of how tremendous progress has been made.

"Thirty years ago both parties were horrible on gay rights. Eisenhower issued an executive order that said that gays were a security risk and not to be given security clearance," said Frank. "Bill Clinton changed that. Bill Clinton has done incredible work and hasn't gotten sufficient credit."

Frank was kind to Clinton, even in areas where others have called his policies a failure, such as in the military. Frank said he didn't fault the president for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," but rather for his follow up.

"Clinton has allowed the armed forces to make a mockery of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,'" he said. "But Al Gore, an army veteran who has served in Vietnam, is in a much better position to stand up to them."

Looking ahead, Frank pointed to Gore as the only viable candidate capable of keeping our community moving in the right direction, and he used the vice president's remarks in the second debate as a clear example of the differences between the two presidential candidates.

"It was Al Gore who was on the offensive about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act," and not Bush, said Frank. "[Bush] didn't want to talk about it. He said he didn't know what was in it. It's not that complicated."

These and other lines drew hearty rounds of laughter from the crowd. But above his wittiness, the core of Frank's message was about work.

"It's time for us to be intolerable of intolerance," he said. "I am convinced if we simply get active politically in a sensible way, we could win this. Some people actually think that they're above politics, or that they're punishing the candidates by not voting. We are at a point now that if we took politics as seriously as some of our opponents that I think we could break the back of homophobia."