Barney Frank, LGBTQ rights pioneer and financial reformer, dies at 86

Barney Frank, the longtime Massachusetts congressman and the first openly gay U.S. lawmaker, died at 86 after hospice care for congestive heart failure. Renowned for wit and policy influence, he championed gay rights—from repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell to expanding protections—and steered major financial reform as chair of the House Financial Services Committee, including the Dodd-Frank Act. He remained politically engaged with a forthcoming Yale University Press book on reforming the left, and he retired in 2013 after redistricting made reelection unlikely.