<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Barney Frank, the brassy, lightning-quick former Massachusetts representative who for decades was the most prominent gay politician in the country and who was an author of the most significant overhaul of the nation’s financial regulations since the Great Depression, died on Tuesday at his home in Ogunquit, Maine. He was 86.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">His friend James Segel confirmed the death. Mr. Frank said last month that he had entered hospice care with congestive heart failure.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Mr. Frank, a liberal Democrat who represented a diverse suburban Boston district for 32 years, starting in 1981, was the first gay member of the House to come out voluntarily; others had been outed in scandals. His <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/barney-frank-life-as-gay-congressman-116027/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">public declaration</a> of his sexual orientation in 1987 — spurred by a fear of being outed, by the death of a closeted colleague and by his own determination to show that homosexuality was nothing to be ashamed of — helped normalize being openly gay in public life.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">“Prejudice is based on ignorance,” Mr. Frank <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2011/12/10/how-barney-frank-helped-change-landscape-for-gay-politicians/Ke6VEYrF0igmbkTbejDCuM/story.html?p1=BGSearch_Advanced_Results" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">told The Boston Globe in 2011</a>, as he prepared to retire. “And the best way to counterbalance it is with a living example, with reality.”</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">A Harvard-trained lawyer, Mr. Frank bristled with intellectual firepower, acidic turns of phrase and a zest for verbal combat.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="RelatedLinksBlock-3"><div data-testid="lazy-loader"></div></div><div data-testid="Optimistic-4"><div class="css-kbghgg"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171d1bw"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1u67kh9" data-tpl="i" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk" data-tpl="t">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk" data-tpl="t">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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