Rep. Barney Frank
Openly gay Congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass., is expected to announce his retirement today.
Frank is the longest serving of four openly gay members of the U.S. House. The other three are Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Jared Polis, D-Colo., and David Cicilline, D-R.I.
Frank will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. Eastern time today in Newton, Mass., to announce that he won’t seek re-election in 2012, according to multiple reports.
Frank, 71, is the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. He was first elected in 1980.
The Boston Globe reports that a major factor in Frank’s decision to retire was the new district in which he would have had to run next year.
