Former Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, one of the first openly gay members of Congress and a principal architect of the landmark Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, has died at 86 after entering hospice care in Maine.
Former Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, one of the first openly gay members of Congress and a key architect of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, died on Tuesday night at the age of 86 after entering hospice care at his Maine home in April.
Frank represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 2013, chairing the House Financial Services Committee during the 2008 mortgage crisis and co-sponsoring the landmark 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Massachusetts state Senate President Karen Spilka said, “He stood out and stood up and was a voice for so many people when they had no voice. He has made so many tremendous positive changes for not only Massachusetts but our country. This is a great loss for our country.”
In 1987, Frank became the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay, and in 2012 became the first to enter a same-sex marriage.
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