For your right to be curious.

Donate

Play Live Radio

Next Up:

0:00

0:00 0:00

Available On Air Stations

Join the NPR Illinois team!

Community Voices is seeking a co-host/editor to join Jeff Williams and Randy Eccles in getting to know our neighbors and more. Apply by May 25, 5 p.m.

The news department is seeking part-time fill-in anchor/reporters who are available either weekdays from 5:30 to 9 a.m. and/or 3:30 to 6 p.m. Apply by June 5, 5 p.m.

Remembering former congressman and gay-rights trailblazer Barney Frank

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published May 20, 2026 at 11:02 AM CDT

House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., gestures during a Capitol Hill news conference on Sept. 24, 1998. (Ron Edmonds/AP)

Barney Frank, the liberal icon and gay-rights pioneer who represented Massachusetts in Congress for more than 30 years, died Tuesday night at his home. He was 86 years old and had been receiving hospice care for congestive heart failure.

WBUR political reporter Anthony Brooks visited Frank one last time, and joins host Deborah Becker.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Here & Now Newsroom