Barney Frank Explains Importance Of Getting Married While Still In Office

Retiring Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is set to become the first member of Congress in a same-sex marriage, said it was important for him to get married while still in office, according to an interview published in New York magazine Sunday.

"There’s an unintended benefit. I want to get married. I do think, to be honest, if I was running for reelection, I might have tried to put the marriage off until after the election, because it just becomes a complication," he said. "But I did want to get married while I was still in office. I think it’s important that my colleagues interact with a married gay man."

Frank's office said in late January that the that he and Jim Ready had gotten engaged but didn't have a date yet. Frank told USA Today in early February that the date was July.

The two met in October 2005 at a fundraiser in Maine. After Ready's partner died in January 2007, they began a relationship.

Frank was elected to Congress in 1980, and came out to the public in 1987. In the interview with New York, Frank said that after he came out former Sen. Warren Rudman (R-N.H.) shouted "I’m proud of you!" across a Washington, D.C. grocery store.

The Massachusetts congressman announced last November that he was retiring at the end of his term. He initially said he was running for reelection, but changed his mind after the state's redistricting process included many new constituents that he had not represented and removed constituents that he had.

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Comments

[kmclawson70]

02:30 AM on 04/19/2012

Mazal tov Barney and future husband-to-be! Many nachas (good things) for the two of you!

[GoodDog0325]

11:43 PM on 04/17/2012

Congratulations and my best wishes for Congressman Frank and his fiancee. He will always have my admiration for his intellect, but his courage, especially in the political world, is unmatched. I feel indebted.

[js0860]

04:12 PM on 04/17/2012

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2012/04/17/barney-frank-obamacare-was-a-mistake/

[js0860]

02:36 PM on 04/17/2012

How very narcissistic of Barney.

[truth be told again]

03:35 PM on 04/17/2012

He's fighting for equality for EVERYBODY - the polar opposite of narcissism.

[Ontario Gull]

03:35 PM on 05/23/2012

It's not equality. It's redefinition. Sodomy and sexual intercourse are not the same thing. One can recognize that without judging sodomy as good, bad, or indifferent.

[grannykate]

12:14 PM on 04/17/2012

Congratulations, Barney Frank! Best wishes for a long and peaceful, happy life. Please don't disappear, you're one in a million and always worth listening to.

[libertyfreedom123]

11:01 AM on 04/17/2012

Frank has built his career and personal "happiness" on the misery of twelve million Americans now facing foreclosure.

[wendy82551]

07:16 PM on 04/16/2012

Love you, Barney!

[barbrn0798]

07:14 PM on 04/16/2012

I'm proud to live in the first state to eliminate blatent discrimination against same-sex couples. Kudos and congratulations to Rep. Frank and his partner.

[still hopeful at 55]

07:32 PM on 04/16/2012

wow-really-do you have a link for that claim?

[FoundersFan]

08:33 PM on 04/16/2012

Directly from the Washington Post

--In a third blockbuster scandal, Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Barney Frank admitted a lengthy relationship with a male hooker who ran a bisexual prostitution service out of Frank's apartment. --

[HoosierInMaryland]

01:50 AM on 04/17/2012

So does your father know about the drug running your mother does?

Or the arsonist son they have?

Or the philandering son-in-law (or was that covered in the talk with the future son-in-law)?

[Lo Chiaro]

06:34 PM on 04/16/2012

I agree, Webdings is confusing. Better to stick with Arial or Helvetica.

[MARTinNJ]

06:29 PM on 04/16/2012

Why on earth would Frank want to get married? Look what the christian heterosexuals have done to the institution.

[karlbmiles]

06:57 PM on 04/16/2012

Christian heterosexuals invented marriage. If their customs are so repugnant, what is the appeal?

[ManuOB1]

07:42 PM on 04/16/2012

Really? You mean no one married before 33 A.D.?

[MARTinNJ]

07:57 PM on 04/16/2012

Lest just say that gay people have a strong sense of humor.

[MARTinNJ]

06:21 PM on 04/16/2012

Barney Frank is wrong in saying that there is a meanness at Mitt Romney's core. There is a nothingness there.

[beingthebest]

06:23 PM on 04/16/2012

why are you so uptight about what other people do in their bedrooms.

[Julius Penny]

06:35 PM on 04/16/2012

Love your post.

[truth be told again]

03:40 PM on 04/17/2012

INteresting you "love" what had to be deleted. Speaks volumes.

[HarleyOpenRoad]

05:52 PM on 04/16/2012

Why is calling a gay man unattractive deemed "homophobic" by many here?

I've got no problem with gay persons having all the same rights and privileges as anyone else, but this uber-sensitivity has to go.

[kenhamlett]

06:44 PM on 04/16/2012

I am a gay man, and I am not uber-sensitive. I do not find calling someone unattractive to be homophobic. It might be rude or thoughtless, but it is not homophobic. On that point, we agree. I appreciate your support for equal rights for gays and lesbians. I might have wished that you would phrase it a little more positively, and simply said you supported equality, rather than indicating that "you have no problem with it." But, still, that is a small item, and we appreciate your support.

[truth be told again]

03:43 PM on 04/17/2012

I'm with ken - it isn't homophobic, it's simply rude. (It's called 'looks-ism, and it's equally repugnant to say a heterosexual man - or woman - unattractive'.) Besides, not every one would agree with such an assessment about Frank. I think he's kinda hot in a Papa Bear-ish way. And, he's articulate, and some people find that trait attractive (sexy, even).

IOW, to each his/her own. It's entirely subjective.

[HarleyOpenRoad]

06:48 PM on 04/17/2012

Exactly.

And on any Chris Christie or Jan Brewer thread, most of the comments from Liberals ridicule their appearance. That's just the way most posters here are, from both sides of the aisle.

[ckdogs]

05:28 PM on 04/16/2012

Barney Frank has shown a lot of courage in his career. When he came out, it was even more difficult than it is now. He has endured scurrilous insults with dignity and intelligence. And now, he is breaking another barrier - marrying while in Congress. Thank you, Barney, for taking the heat and marching forward.

[RudyHaugeneder]

06:12 PM on 04/16/2012

What took so long?

[MARTinNJ]

06:25 PM on 04/16/2012

We have a photograph on our living room table. It is my partner, his 6 year old daughter, me and Barney Frank. We told her she was meeting Barney.

[HoosierInMaryland]

01:44 AM on 04/17/2012

Ah, that stirs some memories of my (much) younger (half-)sister. When she was going on three, we told her that a guy was coming over, and that we were going to go to the Children's Zoo with him. From that day until Mom married him a few months later, she called him 'Guy' (even the morning of the wedding). As soon as the wedding was over (and with no explanation), she called him 'Dad', and continued to do so to the day he died.

Kids are a lot smarter than most people give them credit for.

[js0860]

02:38 PM on 04/17/2012

How proud you must be of your ability to mess with the mind of a 6 year old. Having nothing to do with any gay issue; just telling a kid that they are going to meet "Barney", assumably to them a purple dinosaur, and then presenting them with an aging, overweight man. Delectably cunning. You've outwitted a 6 year old.