Tea Partiers Call Frank a Faggot

Tea Party activists who were protesting health care reform on Capitol Hill Saturday heckled a number of congressmen, including Barney Frank, as the lawmakers passed through the Longworth House office building. Frank, who is openly gay, was called "fa**ot," while Rep. John Lewis, a hero in the civil rights movement, was called "ni**er."

Frank told the Washington newspaper The Hill that he was also called a "homo communist" and told to "go homo to Massachusetts." He also had to call Capitol police "to move away" five or six protesters who were banging on his office door and yelling through the mail slot.

In an interview with CNN, Frank said he was disappointed by the name-calling. "There's an unwillingness to be civil," he said, adding that he rarely hears such slurs anymore. The health care issue, however, has become "the proxy for a lot of other sentiments. A lot of which are perfectly reasonable but some of which are kind of ugly."

"If this was a movement that I was part of, I'd be doing more than I think the Republicans are, to differentiate myself," Frank told The Hill.