Crossing the Barriers ─ The Autobiography of Allan H. Spear

Allan Spear had a long and distinguished career as a historian and Minnesota state senator. Perhaps best known for coming out as openly gay during his first term in the Minnesota Senateubecoming one of the first elected officials in the nation to do souSpear was also a leader of Eugene McCarthy's run for the presidency, an organizer against the war in Vietnam, and a key proponent for the establishment of the African-American studies department at the University of Minnesota.

Spear's memories are fascinating and moving: in early chapters on his childhood and college years, he writes with great introspection about his growing self-awareness of being gay. Later he describes his development as an intellectual, particularly as a white man fighting to win legitimacy for the study of African-American history and culture. During his time at the University of Minnesota, Spear became deeply involved with the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) and the antiwar movement. At the same time, he was increasingly active in the emerging gay rights movement and began the process of coming out to his friends and colleagues.

After a failed run for the Minnesota House in 1968, Spear was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1972 and served as Senate president from 1993 to 2000. In 1993, he was instrumental in the passage of the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which protected LGBT people from discrimination in housing, education, and employmentuan achievement he considered one of the finest of his career. A skilled parliamentarian, he remained a progressive leader in the legislature until his retirement in 2000.

Spear passed away on October 11, 2008, leaving his memoir slightly incomplete. A stirring afterword by John Milton completes the story of Spear's life, chronicling the recognition of his accomplishments as a politician and activist during his final years.

Allan H. Spear was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1972 and served for twenty-eight years, retiring in 2000. He was president of the Senate from 1993 to 2000. He was one of the first openly gay state legislators in the country, and he fought to amend Minnesota's Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. He was associate professor of history at the University of Minnesota from 1964 to 2000 and author of Black Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto, published in 1967. The Minnesota Historical Society named him one of 150 Minnesotans who shaped the state.
Barney Frank is the United States House Representative for Massachusetts's Fourth Congressional District and chairman of the Committee on Financial Services. In 1987 he became the second openly gay Congressman in U.S. history.
John Milton was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1972 and 1976, where he was a colleague of Allan Spear.