Congressman Barney Frank Weds Same-Sex Partner

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank has tied the knot with his longtime partner in a ceremony officiated by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Frank, who has decided not to run for re-election, is the first sitting member of Congress to enter a same-sex marriage. More than 300 guests were in attendance.

Frank spokesman Harry Gural says the 72-year-old congressman married 42-year-old Jim Ready in a Saturday evening wedding at the Boston Marriott hotel in Newton. Gural says more than 300 friends, family and colleagues attended. Frank, a Democrat who is retiring after more than three decades in office, represents the 4th Congressional District in southeastern Massachusetts. Ready, of Ogunquit, Maine, has a small business doing custom awnings, carpentry, painting, welding and other general handyman services. He's also a photographer.

"There’s an unintended benefit," he told New York magazine earlier this year. "I want to get married. I do think, to be honest, if I was running for reelection, I might have tried to put the marriage off until after the election, because it just becomes a complication. But I did want to get married while I was still in office. I think it’s important that my colleagues interact with a married gay man."

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