David E. Clarenbach (born September 26, 1953) is a
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
Democratic politician and
gay activist who served nine terms in the
Wisconsin State Assembly
The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin.
Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...
and as
Speaker pro tempore for ten years.
Early life and education
Clarenbach was born in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
and spent his kindergarten year in New York City before his parents moved to Madison. While in high school in Madison public schools, Clarenbach got involved in an effort to place student representatives on the Madison School Board, and in 1969, at age 16, he spent his spring break registering voters in rural Mississippi. Clarenbach studied
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
from 1971 to 1976. He is the grandson of
A. E. Frederick and son of
National Organization for Women co-founder
Kathryn F. Clarenbach
Kathryn F. Clarenbach (October 7, 1920 – March 4, 1994) was an early leader of the modern feminist movement in the United States and the first Chairperson of the National Organization for Women (NOW).
Early life
Kathryn "Kay" Dorothy Frederick ...
and Henry Clarenbach, a delegate for
Eugene McCarthy
Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. ...
.
Career
Elected office
Clarenbach was elected to the
Dane County Board of Supervisors
A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agenc ...
in 1972, at age 18. In 1974, he was elected a Madison
alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
, before being elected to the
Wisconsin State Assembly
The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin.
Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...
that same year at the age of 21, succeeding fellow Democrat
Edward Nager
Edward Nager (July 22, 1927 - March 18, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served six terms as a Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from Madison, Wisconsin.
Background
Nager was born in New York City on July 22, 1927 ...
.
In 1982, Clarenbach was widely credited with helping push through the first law in the country which prohibited discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation. It was a landmark achievement for
LGBT rights in Wisconsin
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ+) people in the United States, U.S. state of Wisconsin have many of the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexuals; however, the transgender community may face some legal issues not experienc ...
and across the nation. While in the assembly, Clarenbach also worked to improve lake quality and expand authority of the
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, authored a new HIV confidentiality law, and an AIDS bill of rights.
In 1983 he was elected
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** In ...
''
pro tempore
''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a ''locum tenens'' (placeholder) in the absence of ...
'' of the Assembly, a position he held until 1993. Clarenbach served on the following committees: Agriculture; Assembly Organization; Financial Institutions and Insurance; Labor; Rules; Legislative Council; Judiciary; Commerce and Consumer Affairs; State Historical Society Board of Curators; and as chairperson of the Health Insurance Reform committee. His legislative papers are on deposit with the
Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of N ...
.
Clarenbach did not seek re-election in 1992 but ran for Congress in . In the Democratic primary election held on September 8, Clarenbach faced
Ada Deer
Ada Deer (born 1935) is a member of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and a Native American advocate, scholar and civil servant. As an activist she opposed the federal termination of tribes from the 1950s following the bills led by Arthur ...
and lost with 31,961 votes (40.1%) to Deer's 47,777 (59.9%). Deer went on to lose to incumbent Republican
Scott L. Klug
Scott Leo Klug (born January 16, 1953) is an American lobbyist, author, and businessman, as well as a former politician and television reporter. From 1991-1999, he was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Wiscon ...
in the general election.
He was succeeded in the assembly by
Tammy Baldwin
Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin (born February 11, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Wisconsin since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms in the Wisconsin Stat ...
, who ran as the first openly gay legislative candidate in Wisconsin history.
Activism
Clarenbach led the Madison AIDS Support Network and later served as
executive director of the
Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund
The LGBTQ Victory Fund (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund), commonly shortened to Victory Fund, is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBTQ public officials in the United States. Victory F ...
from 1996 to 1997. Clarenbach was also a member of the Urban League, Humane Society, ACLU of Wisconsin, and National Council of Senior Citizens. He was a voting delegate to the 1980, 1984 and 1988
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...
s.
Personal life
Clarenbach now works as a
political consultant and lives in
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...
. He has served as the campaign treasurer for State Representative
Chris Taylor.
Sexuality and political office
Clarenbach is openly
gay, although he was not open during his political career in Madison. He told a reporter in 2001, "It was a different era. There were no openly gay elected officials.... Even in the liberal stronghold of Madison, it would have done more than raise eyebrows. It would’ve hampered a person's electability. Yet I think it's safe to say that every member of the Legislature and every member of the Capitol press corps knew I was gay.... The general consensus was not to intrude into one's personal life." He served as a mentor for fellow gay State Representative
Tim Carpenter of
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
. During his early years in public life and activism, Clarenbach was in a private relationship with
Jim Yeadon
Jim Yeadon (born 1949) is an American activist and politician who served on the Madison, Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, Madison Common Council, Common Council. First elected in 1977, Yeadon was the sixth openly gay or lesbian elected official in t ...
, first openly-gay elected official and advocate for
LGBT rights in Wisconsin
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ+) people in the United States, U.S. state of Wisconsin have many of the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexuals; however, the transgender community may face some legal issues not experienc ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarenbach, David
1953 births
Living people
Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly
Politicians from St. Louis
Politicians from Madison, Wisconsin
LGBT state legislators in Wisconsin
Gay politicians
LGBT people from Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
21st-century LGBT people
20th-century LGBT people