Barney Frank, the liberal icon and gay-rights pioneer who represented Massachusetts in Congress for more than three decades, died Tuesday night at his home, according to a close friend who confirmed his death to member station GBH.

He was 86 years old and had been receiving hospice care for congestive heart failure.

Frank was the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out, and also the first to marry a same-sex partner. He says many of the conventional tactics they took to fight for gay-rights helped make “enormous progress” in a relatively short period of time.

Recently asked by GBH if he wished he could do over any part of his career, Frank replied: “I would have come out earlier.”

Read GBH’s full remembrance here.

Frank’s last message for Democrats

WBUR’s Anthony Brooks spoke with Frank while in hospice at his home in Ogunquit, Maine, where he lives with his husband, Jim Ready.

In their conversation, Frank shared an urgent message for Democrats hoping to bounce back from Trump.

He says Democrats have a chance to defeat President Donald Trump’s brand of right-wing populism, but only if the party embraces core economic issues instead of polarizing culture fights.

Read more from their conversation here.

This is a developing story.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/05/20/barney-frank-former-congressman-and-gay-rights-pioneer-dies-at-86/