Frank gives Obama A- on gay issues

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WASHINGTON, April 28 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., says he is disappointed President Obama did not come out against a North Carolina bill to ban civil unions.

Frank said this week he finds the president generally sympathetic to gay issues and gave him an A-minus this week, The Hill reported. He cited Obama's push to end the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and stop the government's legal defense of the federal law that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman.

The first open homosexual in Congress said he was not "surprised" by Obama's failure to mention the bill during a trip to North Carolina because the president is still silent on the gay marriage issue, although he was disappointed.

Frank is retiring in January after representing a suburban Boston district for 16 terms.

Earlier this month, Frank and scores of other members of Congress signed a call for an executive order banning discrimination against homosexuals in federal employment. But Frank said he has had second thoughts, believing it would increase the uproar about the number of executive orders Obama has issued.