(AFP) – Barney Frank, the sharp-tongued former US congressman who helped reshape Wall Street after the 2008 financial crisis and became one of the most prominent openly gay politicians in American history, has died aged 86. A Massachusetts Democrat who served 16 terms in the House of Representatives from 1981 to 2013, Frank was known as a formidable debater, liberal pragmatist, and master of the cutting one-liner.
His most enduring legislative legacy was the Dodd-Frank Act, the sweeping 2010 financial reform law that tightened oversight of banks, created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and sought to prevent another “too big to fail” meltdown. Frank chaired the House Financial Services Committee during the 2008 global financial crisis and became one of Congress’s central figures in the fight over how far Washington should go in restraining Wall Street.
But his place in US political history extended well beyond banking regulation. In 1987, Frank became the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay, helping clear a path for later generations of LGBTQ elected officials. He later pushed for the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the policy that barred openly gay and bisexual people from serving in the military, and in 2012 became the first sitting member of Congress to enter a same-sex marriage, wedding his longtime partner Jim Ready.
Born Barnett Frank in Bayonne, New Jersey, in 1940, he represented a suburban Boston district after earlier serving in the Massachusetts legislature. His career was briefly imperiled in 1990 when the House reprimanded him over his ties to a male escort, but voters returned him comfortably to office, and he remained a major force in Democratic politics for decades.
Frank was famous for his caustic humor. “Conservatives,” he is said to have observed, “believe that, from the standpoint of the federal government, life begins at conception and ends at birth.” Tributes began pouring in from local and national political figures immediately after members of his family announced his death. “Barney Frank was one of a kind — a giant in public life who helped change Massachusetts and America for the better,” said Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey.
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