![]() "I believe the fight for LGBT rights has been won (in the United States)."īorn in New Jersey, Frank, 80, has a long and storied past as a civil rights campaigner.Īs a state legislator, he filed Massachusetts' first gay rights bills in 1972.īut it would be 15 years before he publicly came out, in the process becoming the first openly gay member of the U.S. "The country has made it very clear – full legal equality wins and prejudice loses," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview. LONDON, Aug 13 (Openly) - The United States will elect an LGBT+ president, but it might take another 20 years before the rainbow flag flies metaphorically over the White House, according to former Congressman and veteran civil rights campaigner Barney Frank.Īttitudes toward the LGBT+ community have shifted "significantly" since he was first elected to Congress from the northeastern state of Massachusetts in 1981, Frank said. More than 18,000 same-sex couples since then have wed in Massachusetts, according to MassEquality, an advocacy group for gays, bisexuals and transgender people.'I should have come out a little earlier,' Frank said, citing one of his few regrets in a six-decade political career In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state in the country where same-sex couples could be legally married. His Republican opponent, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, opposes gay marriage, saying marriage should be limited to a union between one man and one woman.Įight of the 50 states and the District of Columbia permit gay marriage. The ruling on the 1996 law, the Defense of Marriage Act, marked a victory for gay rights groups and President Obama, whose administration announced last year it considered the law unconstitutional and would no longer defend it.Īlso in May, President Obama openly endorsed gay marriage, a move that will surely be a flashpoint in the upcoming presidential election. law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman unconstitutionally denies benefits to lawfully married same-sex couples. In May, for example, a federal appeals court in Boston ruled that a U.S. Besides championing financial reform and the rights of fisherman, Frank has been a vocal supporter of gay rights, which have been gathering support in public opinion polls and U.S. "We're not doing any media today," Frank told Reuters.įrank won a seat in Congress in 1980 and said he will retire at the end of the current term. News media were not allowed to attend the ceremony. Senate seat in Massachusetts.īefore the ceremony, Frank greeted family and friends in a traditional black tuxedo. House of Representatives, and Elizabeth Warren, who is battling Republican Scott Brown for his U.S. The evening wedding took place at the Boston Marriott Newton in suburban Boston, attracting political luminaries including Nancy Pelosi, top Democrat in the U.S. Frank and Ready have been involved since 2007. Ready lives in Ogunquit, where he does carpentry, painting and welding work. ![]() President Barack Obama signed into law in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis following the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market.įrank's office in January announced he would marry Ready, whom he met at a political fundraiser in Ready's home state of Maine. He is well known for his legislative acumen, including as an architect of the reforms in the Dodd-Frank bill, which U.S. "It was no different than any other wedding I've attended when you have two people who are in love with each other," Green said.įrank, a Massachusetts Democrat and a former chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, has been an openly gay congressman since the late 1980s. He added that Frank, a champion of gay rights and the sweeping reform of Wall Street, shed a tear during the ceremony.Īfter exchanging their vows, Frank and Ready embraced each other, Green said. "Barney was beaming," said Green, who attended the ceremony. Deval Patrick officiated the ceremony and added some levity by saying Frank, 72, and Ready, 42, had vowed to love each other through Democratic and Republican administrations alike, and even through appearances on Fox News, according to Al Green, a Democratic congressman from Texas.
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