Stephen Robert "Steve" Endean (August 6, 1948 – August 4, 1993) was an American

gay rights activist A list of notable LGBT rights activists who have worked to advance LGBT rights by political change, legal action or publication. Ordered by country, alphabetically. Argentina * Claudia Castrosín Verdú, she and her partner were the first les ...

, first in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, then nationally.

Early life

He was born in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

, and came to Minnesota to attend the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

from 1968 to 1972, majoring in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Career

In 1971, Endean founded the Minnesota Committee for Gay Rights (later Gay Rights Legislative Committee), and became the first gay and lesbian rights

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

in Minnesota a year later. In 1973, Endean started lobbying the Minneapolis City Council to include protection for gay rights in the Minneapolis anti-discrimination ordinance working out of the office of then 6th Ward Alderman, Earl Netwal. Endean's persistent efforts eventually lead to a 12–0 vote as Minneapolis became the first major United States city to pass a gay rights Ordinance. (The vote was scheduled on a day when the one opposed alderman was away.) Along with the Minnesota Committee for Gay Rights and Democratic legislators, Endean opposed trans-inclusion and public accommodations in a statewide gay rights bill, giving as their reason the belief that the bill would not pass with such inclusion. In the 1970s, he served as co-chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Gay Task Force (later

NGLTF The National LGBTQ Task Force is an American social justice advocacy non-profit organizing the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. Also known as The Task Force, the organization supports a ...

). In 1978, he became the director of the

Gay Rights National Lobby The Gay Rights National Lobby was a Washington D.C.-based gay rights advocacy organization which existed in the late 1970s into the early 1980s. It was founded in 1976, and both GRNL and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force were among the earlie ...

. In 1980, he started the Human Rights Campaign Fund (later just HRC), and served as its first executive director. In 1991, he created the National Endorsement Campaign, an effort to get straight political leaders and media figures to endorse

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

. Also in 1991, he published his memoir, ''Into the Mainstream''. In 1993, he was present (in a wheelchair) at the Minnesota State Capitol when the Legislature passed the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which banned LGBT discrimination in housing, employment, and education. (This law did include coverage for Trans people; the first such state inclusion in the country.)

Personal life

In 1985, Endean was diagnosed with

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

. After this, increasing health problems led to semi-retirement. He died of AIDS-related complications on August 4, 1993. He was a member of the

Metropolitan Community Church The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), also known as the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), is an international LGBT-affirming mainline Protestant Christian denomination. There are 222 member congregations in 37 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Endean, Stephen Robert American LGBT rights activists 1948 births University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni 1993 deaths LGBT people from Iowa 20th-century LGBT people