Frank married his partner<\/a> Jim Ready in July 2012 in a ceremony officiated by then-Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.<\/p>\nIt’s nice to know that\u00a0Frank got his happy ending, but what emerges in \u201cCompared to What\u201d is how the\u00a0the earlier years of Frank’s career he felt forced to keep his sexual identity a secret, reflecting the attitudes of the time.<\/p>\n
Frank realized he was gay when he was 13 growing up in Bayonne, New Jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a strong Jewish community,\u201d he recalled. \u201cBayonne was about 10 percent Jewish.\u00a0\u00a0This was the ’40s and there was a lot of anti-Semitism, so the Jewish community tended to band together.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family wasn\u2019t religious. We were very ethnic.\u00a0\u00a0But I went to Hebrew school and had a bar mitzvah.\u00a0\u00a0Growing up and going forward, I recognized a lot of Jewishness: in my taste in food, in my sense of humor and I do have a larger than normal number of Jewish friends than would be statistically expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank settled in Boston as a student at Harvard, where he graduated in 1962. In 1967 he worked on mayoral candidate Kevin White\u2019s first campaign \u2014 and was named chief of staff when the 38-year-old White won the election.<\/p>\n
In 1972, still closeted, he won the first of four consecutive terms to the state legislature. In the late ’70s, with a new law degree from Harvard, he planned to come out, recognizing it meant the end of his political career. His plan was to serve one more term and go into private practice.<\/p>\n
He started by telling close friends and family he was gay. Then, in 1980, Pope John II ordered priests to withdraw from electoral politics and Father Robert Drinan, a Massachusetts congressman, complied and threw his support behind Frank \u2014 who won the seat he would hold for more than three decades.<\/p>\n
Frank bowed to political reality and kept quiet until 1986, when he heard a soon-to-be published book was going to out him. First he told his mentor, the late House Speaker Tip O\u2019Neill, who told him not to worry; rumors happen. When Frank told O\u2019Neill that this time it was true, O\u2019Neill was\u00a0upset \u2014 he thought Frank would be the first Jewish speaker.<\/p>\n
But Frank\u2019s public reveal didn\u2019t hurt him in the polls. Neither did his involvement, while still closeted, with a male hustler that led to a reprimand, the most minor of all disciplines Congress can impose on a sitting member. He continued to win elections by margins so impressive that six times, the Republicans didn\u2019t even bother putting up a candidate.<\/p>\n
Throughout his tenure, Frank was a strong supporter of stricter environmental laws, of Israel and civil rights. Asked if the Jewish concept of tikkun olam motivated him, he responded, \u201cI don\u2019t know that. I do think Jews statistically tend to be more liberal and more concerned with repairing the world. I don\u2019t remember saying I\u2019m Jewish and I have to do this.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think about why I\u2019m doing something, just if it\u2019s right. Though I guess if you\u2019re a person who has been the object of prejudice, it will make you angry about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
So it might be surprising that Frank has spoken out against a fellow progressive and Jew \u2014 and one he’s been mistaken for at times: Bernie Sanders<\/a>, whom he’s urged to withdraw from the presidential race.<\/p>\n\u201cYou absolutely shouldn\u2019t be surprised by my view, given that I am for taking the most liberal position you can win on,\u201d he said. \u201cSanders cannot win the presidency.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think having an intra-party fight is helpful. I want to win the presidency. I want a Democratic president to appoint the next Supreme Court justices. I want the Democratic president to support health care. We\u2019re fighting Republicans now, saying how dare you call the president [Obama] a socialist. There isn\u2019t the remotest chance of Sanders winning.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a lengthy conversation interrupted by several phone calls \u2014\u00a0he always called back in minutes \u2014\u00a0only one subject was off limits: his legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not for me to say,\u201d he says. \u201cTalking about it you come off arrogant or overly modest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thankfully, the “Compared to What”\u00a0does it for him.<\/p>\n
![\"BF](\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/BF-DC-Office-Photo-Credit-Michael-Chandler-copy.png\")