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Karen Clark, a trailblazing Minnesota state representative who was key in legalizing gay marriage and the first openly lesbian member of the Legislature, died on Tuesday. She was 80.

Clark, a DFLer, represented several neighborhoods in Minneapolis in the Minnesota House from 1981 to 2019.  

She helped to ban LGBTQ+ discrimination from housing, employment and education in Minnesota in 2013. Under the Obama administration, she was honored as a “champion of change” for her work and served on former Governor Rudy Perpich’s Task Force on Lesbian and Gay Minnesotans in 1990. Clark was born in Oklahoma and grew up on a sharecropping farm in Rock County. 

In an MPR News documentary about the debate for marriage rights, Clark said “I was elected in 1980, the same day as Ronald Reagan. And that's where our similarities begin and end.”

She was the first Minnesota lawmaker to run as an openly LGBTQ+ candidate and win. Sen. Allan Spear came out after he had already been in office for two years. Clark said that “coming out” was the most important political act LGBTQ+ people could make.

“I had a lot of fun experiences and some difficult ones too. ‘People just understanding, oh my gosh, she’s a lesbian and she’s kind of a nice person and wow, what a surprise!’ It was like that kind of thing,” she said.

Sen. Scott Dibble met Clark through activist circles and served as her campaign manager. 

“She had this extraordinary combination of of gentleness and fierce determination. She was indefatigable, determined, relentless. She really, really believed in standing up and being a strong voice for the people,” he said. “She really felt strongly that it was important for them to be a part of the work, and to be a part of coalition and a part of putting together solutions to the problems.”

Dibble and Clark served one term together. He said serving alongside his “hero and mentor” was “incredible.” 

Rep. Dave Pinto sat by Clark during his first term and said above all, he will remember her kindness.

“She had such a calm, centered presence. She took such good care of me and others as well,” Pinto said. “She demanded that out of all of us, that we treat everyone with kindness.”

Even though she decided not to pursue another term in 2019, that doesn’t mean her advocacy stopped Pinto said. He regularly saw her at the Capitol and showed him bills she was working on.

Her family posted about her death on social media and a spokesperson for the House DFL confirmed her passing.

This is a developing news story. Check back for updates.

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Karen Clark was a key figure in legalizing gay marriage and served in the House until 2019.

Jennifer Simonson | MPR News 2013

People listen to a woman speak at a protest

Karen Clark, the first lesbian to serve in the Minnesota House, has died at 80

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