Allan Spear

Infobox State Senator
honorific-prefix =
name =Allan H. Spear
honorific-suffix =

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height =150px
state_senate =Minnesota
district =57^th, then 59^th, then 60^th
term_start =1973
term_end =2000
preceded =
succeeded =
birth_date =birth date and age|1937|06|24
birth_place =Michigan City, Indiana
residence =Minneapolis, Minnesota
party =Democrat
spouse =
website =

Allan H. Spear was an American politician from Minnesota who served almost thirty years in the Minnesota Senate, of which he was President for nearly a decade.

A graduate of Oberlin College (B.A., 1958), he went on to earn an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Yale University (1960 and 1965 respectively). Decades later, Oberlin would also award him an honorary LL.D..cite web |url=http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail.asp?ID=10630 |title=Minnesota Legislative Reference Library: Minnesota Legislators Past & Present |accessdate=2008-02-22]

He was first elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1972, representing a liberal Minneapolis district centered on the University 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.

His Minneapolis district was altered with each decennial redistricting. It was numbered the 57^th until 1982, the 59^th from 1983 to 1992 and the 60^th from then on. ]

Having come out of the closet in December 1974,cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2000_July_4/ai_63059684 |title=Minnesota's Spear calls it a day |last=Booth |first=Karen Louise |date=2000-07-04 |accessdate=2007-03-21] he was one of the first openly gay Americans serving in elected office. His coming out drew national attention, being featured in the "New York Times" amongst others.

References