Allan H. Spear | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of the Minnesota Senate | |
| In office January 1993 – January 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Jerome M. Hughes |
| Succeeded by | Don Samuelson |
| Member of theMinnesota Senate from the 57th, then 59th, then 60th district | |
| In office 1973–2001 | |
| Succeeded by | Myron Orfield |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1937-06-24)June 24, 1937 Michigan City, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | October 11, 2008(2008-10-11) (aged 71) Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Political party | Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party |
| Spouse | Junjiro Tsuji |
Allan Henry Spear (June 24, 1937 – October 11, 2008) was anAmerican politician and educator fromMinnesota who served almost thirty years in theMinnesota Senate, including nearly a decade as President of the Senate.
Spear was born to a Jewish family inMichigan City, Indiana.[1] A graduate ofOberlin College (B.A., 1958), he went on to earn anM.A. and a PhD fromYale University (1960 and 1965 respectively). Decades later, Oberlin would also award him an honoraryLL.D.[2] He was first elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1972, representing a liberalMinneapolis district centered on theUniversity of Minnesota. He served a total of 28 years in the Senate, retiring in 2000. He was President of the Senate from 1992 to 2000.
Spear represented two different districts in Minneapolis during his political career. From 1972 to 1982, he represented District 57, the southeast part of Minneapolis, including the University of Minnesota's main campus. In 1982, he moved to District 59, the southwest part of Minneapolis, (renamed to District 60 after the 1992 redistricting[2]) winning election and representing the district until his retirement in 2000.
Spearcame out on December 9, 1974,[3] and was one of the first openly gay Americans serving in elected office. His coming out drew national attention, being featured inThe New York Times and elsewhere.[citation needed]
Spear was instrumental in passing the 1993 Minnesota Human Rights Act, which guaranteed protection from discrimination in education, employment, and housing to LGBT[4] Minnesotans. He had been working on this for nearly 20 years, and later called it his "proudest legislative achievement." His personal connections with other senators during his years in office were important in gaining the votes of Republican colleagues. He gained the public support of the leader of the Senate Republicans, Lutheran ministerDean E. Johnson, who gave a speech supporting the bill on the Senate floor (and was later "censured" by his local Republican party officials, and eventually forced out of the Republican party).[5]
In 2008, as part of Minnesota'sSesquicentennial celebration, theMinnesota Historical Society named him as one of the 150 people and groups that helped shape the state. Allan Spear died on October 11, 2008, from complications following heart surgery earlier that week.[6] He was survived by his partner of 26 years, Junjiro Tsuji, who died on March 13, 2019.[7]
He had partially completed an autobiography (Crossing the BarriersISBN 9780816670406) at his death; a colleague of his in the Senate,John Watson Milton, provided an afterword listing the accomplishments of his later years. This book was published in 2010.[8]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President of the Minnesota Senate 1993–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Lt. Governor (1858–1973) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Senate-elected (1973–present) | ||
