Frank Buttino was born in Canstota, NY and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University.  In 1969, he received an appointment as a Special Agent of the FBI from Director, J. Edgar Hoover. He was assigned to Tampa and Detroit, where he took part in investigations of the radical left and the Ku Klux Klan.  In 1973, Frank was assigned to San Diego and was one of the first FBI agents selected for specialized training by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 

Despite Frank’s distinguished record and valued recognition by every FBI Director, he was fired by the FBI after learning that was gay.  Frank filed a lawsuit charging the FBI with discriminating him based on his sexual orientation.  In 1993, his federal class-action lawsuit began, and Attorney General Janet Reno issued a statement for the Department of Justice, prohibiting any agency within the Dept. of Justice from discriminating against any employee based on sexual orientation.

Frank has been featured on numerous TV shows including “60 Minutes,” “Larry King Live,” and “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”  He co-authored A Special Agent: Gay and Inside the FBI in 1993.  The book chronicles Frank’s life, his twenty-year FBI career, and his landmark civil rights case.  Frank has spoken to numerous clubs, organizations, universities and corporations about his experiences in the FBI and issues of cultural diversity.  Since 2001, he has been employed as a teacher and as a Business Community Liaison at the San Diego Job Corps Center.