Notoriously homosexual congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) “married” his longtime partner July 7 in a public ceremony officiated by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, the Associated Press reported. A spokesman for Frank said that the 72-year-old congressman “wed” 42-year-old Jim Ready, described by the AP as a handyman and photographer, at a Boston-area hotel, with some 300 guests in attendance. Among the more high-profile of the guests were Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.).
Frank, who earlier this year announced his retirement from Congress at the end of the present term, is the first national legislator to “marry” a homosexual partner, reported the Washington Post. The seriousness with which Frank and Ready took the event was demonstrated by their “marriage vows,” which had Patrick asking the duo if they promised “to love each other and be each other’s best friend, in sickness and in health, in Congress or in retirement, whether the surf is up or the surf’s flat, for richer or for poorer, under the Democrats or the Republicans, whether the slopes are powdery or icy, whether the book reviews are good or bad, for better or for worse, on MSNBC or on Fox, for as long as you both shall live.”
At the beginning of the ceremony, Gov. Patrick quipped to the guests: “As you might imagine, at the request of the congressman, this service will be short and to the point.”
Major media organs such as the New York Times and the Washington Post used the high-profile event as an opportunity to demonstrate their acceptance of homosexual marriage as a domestic celebration worthy of their society pages. The Times pictured the two men hand-in-hand after the ceremony, both in crisply tailored Joseph Abboud tuxedos. “The dozen groomsmen wore Abboud suits (a gift from Frank and Ready because the company is based in Massachusetts),” reported the Post. The Times swooned that the pair’s “wedding bands were made of black diamonds set in tungsten, a metal used in welding.” Frank’s “husband,” the paper noted, is an experienced welder.
Click here to read the entire article.
Photo of Rep. Barney Frank: AP Images
