ABSTRACT
The Minnesota House of Representatives had attached it as an amendment to a Health and Human Services spending bill. The state senate had to contend with the matter. Of the estimated 124 openly gay and lesbian elected officials in the United States in 1997, Allan Spear has served by far the longest. Elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1972 and reelected seven times since then, he came out publicly as a gay man in December 1974, a month after Elaine Noble became the first openly gay person ever elected to office by winning a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. The 1972 redistricting of the legislature created a seat that surrounded the University of Minnesota, making it ideal for Spear. Spear, who people describe as modest, is not one to brag about his numerous accomplishments. While seen by others as an historical giant in Minnesota and national politics, Spear is apt to downplay the impact he has had.
