U of M mourns country's first openly gay male state legislator and longtime history professor Allan Spear

Contacts: Beng Chang, U of M Schochet Endowment, (612) 626-2562, schochet@umn.edu
Ryan Maus, University News Service, (612) 624-1690, maus@umn.edu

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/13/2008) — Allan Spear, the country’s first openly gay male state legislator and a longtime history professor at the University of Minnesota for 36 years, died Saturday night at age 71 after complications following heart surgery. Spear leaves behind a legacy as one of the state’s most influential legislators and left an indelible impact on students and colleagues at the university.

“As both a faculty member and the state senator representing our Minneapolis campus, he truly was a transformational leader who was deeply committed to our institution,” said U of M President Robert Bruininks of Spear. “There is probably no greater honor for any leader than to have those who follow you say you made a difference in their lives and the lives of the community. That can certainly be said of Allan Spear.”

“Allan believed, as a good historian, that not knowing our history can mean we repeat the same mistakes over and over,” said colleague Toni McNaron, a professor emeritus of English at the university who came out publicly shortly before Spear in 1974. “His teaching was always infused with an urgency to apply what was learned in his classrooms to the nightly news, or to a person's attitudes toward their neighbors who might not always agree with them.”

Spear began teaching in the University of Minnesota’s history department in 1964 and retired in 2000 after 36 years of academic scholarship as an associate professor of history. In 2000, the University of Minnesota’s Steven J. Schochet Center for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Studies celebrated Allan Spear’s life and work by naming a speech in the Schochet Distinguished Lecture Series in his honor, the Spear Lecture in Public Policy.

Spear inaugurated the Spear Lecture in Public Policy on Sept. 26, 2000 and the series has since been a forum for prominent figures such as U.S. Congressman Barney Frank and U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, as well as activists and scholars of GLBT Studies such as Suzanne Pharr and Dean Spade.

Spear was one of the chief architects of the 1993 Human Rights Act Amendment, which extended a guarantee of protection from discrimination in employment, education, and housing to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Minnesotans. It is with the passage of this act that Allan realized what he himself called his “proudest legislative achievement.” A selection of his personal papers are archived in the U of M's Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies.

“Allan was proud of his role as a ground-breaker for our communities,” said Beth Zemsky, former founding director of the U of M’s GLBT Programs Office. “Once he opened a door, whether in the state legislature, at the university or in the community, he was committed to helping others walk through it. Allan was always accessible for a discussion, to attend a community meeting, to lend a funny or pointed story, or to share one of his deeply held convictions. He was a valued mentor, adviser and friend who will be deeply missed.”

A private burial for Spear has been scheduled, and a public memorial service will be arranged. He is survived by his long-term partner of over twenty years, Junjiro Tsuji.