Barney Frank D-Mass. Frank said he met the man, whom he identified as Steve Gobie, through an ad in a Washington gay newspaper in and paid to have sex with him.
The Massachusetts congressman, who at the time had not made his public acknowledgement that he was gay, said he later hired Gobie as a chauffeur and housekeeper with the hope of reforming a troubled young man with a history of petty crime and prostitution. I was victimized. I misjudged his character.
Gobie was on probation after being convicted in of four felonies, including cocaine possession and production of obscene items involving juveniles. In August, , Frank said he fired Gobie and ended their relationship after his landlady alerted him to the prostitution business being run out of his basement apartment several blocks from the Capitol.
Foley D-Wash. Just last month, Frank was one of three House members to ask the Ethics Committee to investigate sexual misconduct allegations against Rep. Gus Savage D-Ill. A Peace Corps worker has accused Savage of making sexual advances during an official trip to Zaire. Frank said he intends to run for reelection next year and does not believe the Gobie incident would undermine his campaign. Frank, who publicly acknowledged his homosexuality in , has faced only token opposition in recent elections.
In , another Massachusetts Democratic congressman, Gerry E. Studds, admitted having sex with a male page employed by the House. His Cape Cod constituents also have continued to elect him overwhelmingly. Dorothy Reichard, an aide to Frank in Boston, said the several dozen calls to his office have been overwhelmingly supportive.
