WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Barney Frank, the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, is engaged to be married.
The 71-year-old Massachusetts congressman, who is the nation's most famous openly gay politician, will marry his longtime partner, 42-year-old Jim Ready, a Frank spokesman confirmed Thursday.
The ceremony will be held in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage was made legal in 2004. A date for the wedding has not been announced.
Frank, who is not running for re-election this year after 32 years in Congress, met Ready at a 2005 political fundraiser in Maine, which is Ready's home state. They have been together since the spring of 2007.
Ready, who lives in the town of Ogunquit, Maine, has a small business that does custom awnings, carpentry, painting and other handyman services. He is also a photographer.
News of the couple's engagement, first reported by New England Cable News, broke on the same day that same-sex marriage supporters in Maine announced they have enough signatures to hold a referendum on the issue this fall.
Frank's spokesman said he does not know whether the couple plans to campaign on behalf of the upcoming ballot initiative in Maine.
