Steve Rothaus covers gay issues for The Miami Herald. He asked these questions of Stuart E. Weisberg, who has written ``Barney Frank: The Story of America's Only Left-Handed, Gay, Jewish Congressman'' (University of Massachusetts Press, $30 hardback):

Q: How long have you known Barney Frank? Are you social friends or business acquaintances?

A: My friendship with Barney Frank spans almost four decades. We first met in the summer of 1971 when we both worked for then-Massachusetts Rep. Michael J. Harrington. I was a summer intern and he was the congressman's new chief of staff. I had the opportunity to observe Barney Frank close up as he chaired the House Government Operations Subcommittee on Employment and Housing in the mid-1980s when I was the panel's staff director and chief counsel.

Q: Frank recently opposed the Oct. 11 gay National Equality March in Washington, saying marchers would have little influence on Capitol Hill. Up to 200,000 gay activists showed up anyway, according to estimates. Is Frank out of touch with younger activists, particularly those who organize on the Internet? Or are younger activists out of touch with Frank and the political realities of Washington?

A: As you may recall, Frank took the same position when hundreds of thousands of gays and lesbians participated in the march on Washington in April 1993 instead of lobbying members of Congress on gays in the military. In Frank's view, marches on Washington have no political impact on elected officials, and for that reason they are a waste of time.

``Twenty-five years ago, our need was for visibility. We didn't know who each other were. The world didn't know we were here. Once you get behind the simple desire for visibility, political marches do you zero good. Politicians simply are not influenced by them,'' Frank said. In Frank's view, American society functions politically according to who gets organized and who gets out the vote and who defends themselves. He sees the National Rifle Association and the American Association of Retired Persons as two groups who are very effective in influencing government and lobbying members of Congress. ``The NRA doesn't have marches. They don't have demonstrations. They don't shoot their guns in the air. It's just good, straight democracy. The AARP doesn't have shuffles. They just write to us and call us and tell us that they're there,'' he said. I don't think it is a question of old versus young gay activists but rather activists being out of touch with the political realities of Washington. I would have hoped that gay activists would have learned that lesson after the gays in the military lobbying debacle in 1993.

Q: Frank survived a 1989 scandal in which call boy Stephen Gobie said he ran a prostitution service from Frank's Washington apartment during the late 1980s. Frank -- who acknowledged paying Gobie for sex on several occasions -- denied knowing Gobie ran his business from Frank's apartment while he was away. Did the scandal reduce Frank's influence in Congress during Don't Ask, Don't Tell and Defense of Marriage negotiations in the mid-1990s?

A: In September 1989, The Boston Globe, traditionally Barney Frank's biggest supporter since his days in the Massachusetts state legislature, called upon him in an editorial to resign from Congress, pointing to his diminished effectiveness. Yet on Oct. 29, 1990, The Boston Globe endorsed Frank for re-election admitting ``we were wrong'' and noting that ``he has been stronger and more articulate than we thought.'' To answer your question, the sex scandal did not reduce Frank's influence in Congress during the debate on gays in the military and DOMA.

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