About
Democrat who represented Massachusetts in the House of Representatives from 1981 to 2013. From 2007 to 2011, he served as the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, where he co-sponsored the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, a sweeping reform of the U.S. financial industry in the aftermath of the 2008 recession.
Before fame
He was an active volunteer during Freedom Summer in Mississippi.
Trivia
In 1987, he became the first representative in Congress to come out of the closet as gay voluntarily. He was the first member of Congress to marry someone of the same sex while in office.
Family life
He married long-time partner James Ready in July 2010, and he previously dated Herb Moses, an economist and LGBT activist, for 11 years.
Associated with
He attended Harvard University for his undergrad education and law school; Benjamin Peirce taught at Harvard for fifty years.
