Dining Choices. 

Biography

Barney Frank served as United States Congressman from Massachusetts for over three decades, starting in 1981, when he won the seat formerly occupied by Father Robert Drinan. An outspoken and deeply-respected legislator, noted for his keen sense of humor, Frank has played a key role in some of the most important legislation of our country's recent history, including the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." As Chair of the House Financial Services Committee from 2007 to 2011, Frank helped craft the compromise bill to slow the tide of home mortgage foreclosures in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis, as well as the subsequent $550 billion rescue plan, and the landmark Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act-the sweeping set of regulatory reforms named partly after Frank and signed into law in July 2010, to prevent the recurrence of the financial crisis.  Frank also led the passage of the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act, a measure lauded by consumer advocates, and fought to preserve affordable rental housing, as well as to reduce military spending in favor of providing for important quality-of-life needs at home.  Born Barnett Frank on March 31, 1940, in Bayonne, New Jersey to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe-Frank's parents were a truck stop owner and a legal secretary-Barney Frank graduated from Harvard in 1962 and went on to pursue a Ph.D. He left before completing the degree to take a job as chief assistant to Boston Mayor Kevin White in 1968. Frank won a seat in the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1972, and though still closeted, went on to become a national leader of the LGBT rights movement, introducing the state's first two gay rights bills in 1973. In 1987, Frank became the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as openly gay, and in 2012 he married his longtime partner Jim Ready, becoming the nation's first congressman in a same-sex marriage while in office.  Frank's sixteen terms in Congress have left a legacy of civil rights and financial reform, and his abilities will be sorely missed. As noted by The Wall Street Journal: "Mr. Frank's combative liberalism and quick wit make him a standout in a Capitol filled with politicians dependent on talking points and polls, a trait alluded to by Mr. Obama who said in a written statement that, 'The House of Representatives will not be the same without him.'"