Artifact #6: Audio clips from interviews with Allan Spear (1974)
Allan Spear was the first openly gay man in the United States to serve as a state legislator. He proved to the public that a queer person could serve in a position of power just as well as (if not better than) his straight peers. His presence in the Senate was also important because he enacted policies that impacted LGBTQA+ citizens, like those in Minneapolis and St. Paul. In 1993, he was able to change Minnesota’s Human Rights Act, making it more inclusive and protective of the LGBTQA+ community. Spear was the president of the Minnesota Senate for nearly a decade, during which time he fought for the rights of LGBTQA+ community, pushing for laws that would protect and help foster the growing queer population in Minnesota.
Jack Matheson, a historian from the Minnesota Historical Society wrote the following, concerning Spear’s realization that he was gay:
“Spear later admitted that he started to realize he was “different” from his friends at about age twelve and began privately discussing his homosexuality with a sympathetic friend at age nineteen. He did not begin coming out, however, until 1972. This happened to be months before he ran for, and was first elected to, the Minnesota Senate. Spear publicly revealed his homosexuality two years later in an interview with the Minneapolis Star newspaper and became the first openly gay Minnesota legislator.”