Fmr Dem Rep. Barney Frank Dies

Barnett Frank, born on March 31, 1940, in Bayonne, New Jersey, graduated from Harvard University in 1962 and subsequently obtained a law degree from Harvard Law School.

He was employed by Boston Mayor Kevin White and Rep. Michael Harrington before his election to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1972.

While there, he served until his election to Congress in 1980.

Jim Segel, Frank’s former campaign manager and close friend, verified that the popular lawmaker had passed away late Tuesday. “I have been trying to decide, by the way, personally, whether it’s better to be an icon or an emoji,” Frank, with his caustic wit, told CNN’s “State of the Union” in a May 3 interview while in hospice for congestive heart failure

Frank’s inaugural legislation as a Massachusetts legislator was designed to prohibit discrimination in housing and employment based on sexual orientation.

This legislation served as an early indicator of the civil rights activism that would dominate his public life.

Frank later cited the gay rights movement’s incremental strategy as a paradigm for other causes, despite the fact that the bill failed.

Frank acknowledged that the Democrats and the broader left had made strides in bringing inequality to the forefront of the national agenda.

However, he cautioned that contentious cultural issues could potentially divide and dominate the party.

His book, which is scheduled for publication on September 15, was composed before his admission to hospice care.

“The Difficult Road to Unity: The Reason We Must Reform the Left to Restore Democracy.”

America has, he postulated, “enabled people who wanted to use that as a platform for a wide range of social and cultural changes, some of which the public isn’t ready for.”

“Even when I agree with them on the end, I think they make a mistake by taking the most controversial parts of the agenda and turning them into litmus tests,” he added.

Even in hospice, Frank remained politically engaged and characteristically unsparing, rejecting the biggest, newest voices in the Democratic Party for turning America away from the standard bearers.

“I am concerned that, among some in my party, there has been a flavor of the month tendency, so that someone who is new and hasn’t been able to do much is somehow preferred over people who understand the importance of hard work to get controversial things adopted,” he said.