But the New Jersey-born “left-handed gay Jew”—as he called himself—entered politics anyway. And he not only managed to secure a 32-year career in the U.S. House of Representatives but to make history as the first incumbent member of Congress to choose to come out and the first incumbent to marry someone of the same sex. He is also known as the lead sponsor of the Dodd-Frank Act, Congress’ response to the 2008 financial crisis and which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“For more than three decades in Congress, he fought tirelessly for the people of Massachusetts, helped make housing more affordable, stood up for the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans, and helped pass one of the most sweeping financial reforms in history designed to protect consumers and prevent another financial crisis,” former President Barack Obama said about Frank in a social media post. “Barney’s passion and wit were second to none, and our thoughts are with his family today.”
Up until his final days, Frank still engaged in politics. He spoke to Politico in April, when he entered hospice care in his home in Maine, where he said that one of his regrets is that he “won’t see the continued implosion of [President] Donald Trump.”
Jim Segel, Frank’s former campaign manager and close friend, confirmed Frank’s death to the Associated Press. Frank is survived by his husband, Jim Ready, sisters Ann Lewis and Doris Breay, and brother David Frank.
“I remember Emmett Till, who I think was about my age, a black kid from Chicago who was killed in Mississippi—lynched,” Frank told Esquire in an interview in 1988, adding that he felt “ furious” about seeing the news. “It’s probably bigotry that bothers me most. Bigotry and undeserved poverty. There are other issues facing this country right now, but the hunger of a three-year-old who doesn’t deserve to be hungry outweighs in my judgment all the other harms that can happen.”
He told TIME that he had planned to retire from politics at the end of the 1970s, but decided to run for Congress when a seat held by a practicing Catholic priest became available to contest following a papal order to bar priests from holding public office. Frank was elected to represent the state’s 4th congressional district and assumed office in 1981.
Coming out
In 1987, Frank, then 47, made history when he told the Boston Globe, “If you ask the direct question: ‘Are you gay?’ The answer is yes. So what?”
Frank continued to be a voice for the LGBT community through policymaking. He vocally supported ending the “Don’t Ask, Don't Tell” policy, advocating that servicemembers be able to serve while being public about their sexual orientation. He’s also lobbied for measures against the discrimination of LGBT individuals in the workplace, secured funding for the U.S. response to AIDS, and helped pass the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded hate crime legislation to include protections against violent acts based on perceived gender, sexual orientation, or disability, and which was signed into law in 2009.
In 2012, less than a year before retiring from the House, Frank married his husband Jim Ready, making him the first sitting lawmaker to enter a same-sex marriage.
Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay former Transportation Secretary, suggested that Frank opened up opportunities for future generations of gay public servants. “Years later, I’m not sure I would have had the chance to serve if Barney Frank hadn’t demonstrated that courage, commitment, and skill can matter more than others’ imagination about what voters are ‘ready’ for,” Buttigieg said on social media.
Financial reform
Frank was chairman of the House Financial Services Committee when the U.S. was hit by the housing financial crisis of 2007-2008. Frank, together with then-Sen. Christopher Dodd (D, Conn.), authored the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which President Obama signed into law in 2010. The act became the U.S.’s core response to the crisis, putting guardrails around banks, Wall Street firms, mortgages, and more.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D, Mass.), who as a law professor and adviser to Obama helped to set up the CFPB, lauded Frank in a statement as “the gravelly-voiced, smart-as-a-whip congressman who fought hard to get the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over the finish line.”
“Having a partner who recognized the gravity and urgency of the situation was invaluable,” Dodd wrote. “Barney acted as a role model, both in attitude and behavior, and it made him a recognized leader in Congress.”
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