November 15, 2024 | Kaleia Lawrence

David Clarenbach: the political muscle behind the Gay Rights State

After five decades as an LGBTQ freedom fighter, David shares how our past victories can inspire the battles ahead.

David Clarenbach

“It is a matter of life and death, not just civil rights... it's a matter of living and breathing,”

While David Clarenbach is largely known for his role in making Wisconsin the first gay rights state in the country, activism has always been a key part of his life. After many years in the realm of politics, both as a lawmaker and as a consultant, Clarenbach says he is now “more or less retired.” But he still keeps a close eye on the current state of affairs.

“I continue to be politically active or at least aware,” said Clarenbach. “And scared.”

Clarenbach has held many titles: member of the Dane County Board of Supervisors, Madison Alderman, 78th Assembly District Representative, Speaker pro tempore of the Assembly and more.

Moving to Wisconsin was somewhat of a homecoming for the Clarenbach family.

David’s parents, Kathryn and Henry, met at UW-Madison in the 1940’s. David was born in St. Louis, then the family spent a few years in New York. Next, they moved to Madison, where Clarenbach has stayed to this day.

Clarenbach credits both his family and the environment of Madison for growing up socially conscious. His mother Kathryn founded the National Organization for Women, or NOW, in 1966 and served as the first chair of the board.

“I was raised as a feminist. Those things form who we are as adults. We don't grow up in an oxygen-less environment. We are products of our childhood, and so I'm grateful that I didn't have to learn what civil rights meant, what feminism meant, or what justice, right, the rights meant,” said Clarenbach.

Public service is truly a family affair; his younger sister is a school teacher, and his older sister made history as the first Spanish-speaking public defender in the Santa Cruz County area.

His father, Henry, was an anti-war activist and served as a delegate to the Democratic National
Convention.

Clarenbach says while his parents were “a little skeptical” about electoral politics, it should have
come as no surprise when he started taking action for student rights while attending West High
School in the 1960’s.

“There was a lot of unrest in the city, as you can imagine in the sixties. Not just anti-war, but
there was real restrictions in the school system themselves,” said Clarenbach.

At the time, there was no student representation on the Madison Metropolitan School District
Board.

“So the principle that the consumers of the educational system, the students, should have a voice in the policies of that school system was what we were driving at,” said Clarenbach.

Clarenbach says the board was not interested when the students asked for student elective
positions on the board.

So they tried something else: running an 18-year-old student as a member of the school board. This was before 18-year-olds were given the right to vote; since the candidate was not 21, he was not eligible for the ballot. But that didn’t stop the students. Instead, they ran him as a write-in candidate.

He got so many votes that a month after the election, the school board created two positions that gave students a voice on the board.

But other unrest was seen in the school system at the same time.

Judy Greenspan, UW- Madison student and member of the Madison Gay Liberation Front, was invited to speak at Madison East High School for a workshop about sexual identity and orientation. The school’s principal not only canceled the event, but then brought forth and passed a policy to ban gay and lesbian speakers at all MMSD high schools.

“It's hard to think that there was a time in Madison when the LGBT community was not only not
recognized or acknowledged, but overtly banned from any involvement in or presence before
schools and school students who might be tainted by gays and lesbians, you know, this is a communicable disease, apparently,” he said.

In response, Greenspan ran as a school board member in 1973, ultimately losing, though making history as one of the first out lesbians to run for election office, per the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Clarenbach says that though his path did not cross with Greenspan, he admired the work Greenspan did and how that set the stage for many who followed.

But winning student representation was just the start of Clarenbach’s politics. At 17-years-old, he moved downtown, “so I’ve been a product of downtown since then.” This is when Clarenbach started his Dane County Board campaign.

David Clarenbach

David, at a high school play

David Clarenbach

In July of 1971, the 26th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, lowering the voting age to 18. In September, he turned 18.

In April of 1972, the first election 18-year-olds could vote in, Clarenbach was elected to the Dane County Board of Supervisors. At that time, there were no openly gay or lesbian elected officials. Clarenbach says while he never ran as an openly gay candidate, it wasn’t something he hid about himself.

“I wasn't even sure of my own sexuality at age 17. So once you're in office, to just make an announcement that you're gay or bisexual or lesbian, whatever you are, seemed kind of silly at a certain time because I didn't make any secret of who I was,” said Clarenbach. “I know that virtually every member of the state legislature and every member of the press corps knew that I was gay, and I was never asked about it.”

Clarenbach says he faced a “great deal” of suspicion because of his values and because he represented a largely student district. He says progressives were starting to gain influence, but it was a slow process.

“It was a very clear conservative majority on the county board because at that time, people weren't paying much attention to county government,” he said.

Being a member of the board took up much of Clarenbach’s time, meaning he attended UW- Madison for only one semester as a full-time student. He says his parents were worried about how his political activities at a young age would impact his education.

“Well, yes, it probably did, but that's too bad. That's where my heart was,” said Clarenbach.

While he still took some classes here and there and he has love for the university, Clarenbach did not get a degree. But parents will be parents.

“After I left politics 30 some years ago, my parents were still, ‘Now you could go back to school and get your degree.’ It's, like, beyond that,” he said while laughing.

David Clarenbach

The start of his political career was marked with major protests on UW-Madison’s campus and the surrounding community, as people pushed against the war on poverty, against the US’s involvement in the Vietnam War, a fight for civil rights and worker’s rights among other issues. Clarenbach says taking part in physical demonstrations, as well as legislative action, was necessary as student voices were minimized by the general public.

“There were, citywide referendum on the war in Vietnam that served as organizing focus for anti-war movement broadly across the city, not just downtown. Although the demonstrations and the police violence that occurred even here in Madison were downtown and student focused, but there was a lot of organizing in the community and the religious and faith community were very involved,” said Clarenbach.

Clarenbach says he sees parallels with this time to the recent protests on college campuses. After multiple days, a Pro-Palestine encampment on UW’s Library Mall was met with police violence in May 2024. Students were calling for an end to the University’s investment into Israeli businesses during Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.

He says it’s encouraging to see how activism has progressed through the years, and highlights the importance of electoral and grassroot politics working together.

“I think we're further ahead today because the progressive movement in general, which includes not just peace movement and social justice movement and economic democracy, movement for economic democracy, but also the LGBTQ movement has matured and has gained a level of acceptance that, frankly, I never thought I would see in my lifetime,” said Clarenbach.

David Clarenbach

Getting gay rights on the books

In 1974 at age 21, Clarenbach was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly, marking the start of his fight for LGBTQ rights and other social causes. At the time, Wisconsin law prohibited oral and anal sex for everyone, no matter their sexuality.

The fight for gay rights in the Wisconsin legislature started just a few years earlier. In 1967, Representative Lloyd Barbee from Milwaukee introduced the first bill to decriminalize sex between consenting adults. Then in 1971, Barbee introduced a non-discrimination bill as well.

Clarenbach says Barbee was a role model and mentor, giving major credit to Barbee and other progressive politicians before him for laying crucial groundwork for LGBTQ rights in Wisconsin.

“A lot of people thought I or Tammy Baldwin were the first people to introduce same-sex marriage to to the legislature, not so,” said Clarenbach. “It was Lloyd Barbee from Milwaukee and he took a lot of flack and paid a political price. I mean, he was marginalized in the media. He was referred to as the Outrageous Mister Barbee.”

Barbee served in the legislature until 1977, still years before bills he led the charge on for LGBTQ rights passed. But the work for Clarenbach had started. And it was work that would take massive effort to pass.

“There was no, you know, magic wand that we, you know, snapped our fingers,” said Clarenbach. “It took us seven or eight years to build the support.”

Wisconsin’s Gay Rights Bill, AB70, which would prohibit discrimination, and the Consenting Adults Bill, which would make sex acts between adults legal, were what Clarenbach calls companion pieces of legislation.

Clarenbach says the faith community played a crucial part in getting support, and is what led to electoral success. That includes Archbishop Rembert Weakland in Milwaukee giving his support early on, the Jewish community, and the Wisconsin Baptist Convention passing a resolution endorsing the gay rights bill. Clarenbach says the key to this was controlling the terms of the debate.

“Yet, the religious right has been successfully isolated, at least in this community, as the lunatic fringe that they are,” said Clarenbach.

“We didn't ask the Catholic church, for instance, whether homosexuality was good or bad or to be encouraged or discouraged or sinful or not sinful. We asked if bigotry and discrimination could be tolerated against any group in our society. And when that's the question, the answer is an overwhelming no, it cannot be tolerated.”

Though Clarenbach’s grandfather was a Methodist pastor, his parents did not attend church or force the children to go.

“So I'm fortunate in that respect, that I didn't have to unshackle myself from religious burdens, but it was intimidating to go before groups,” said Clarenbach.

While religious groups played a key role, Clarenbach says it took community members around the state building support networks, as well as support from groups like the League of Women Voters and the ACLU.

But in order to pass bills like this, bipartisan support was needed. Clarenbach says the work was slow, first introducing bills and then getting them laughed out by lawmakers, then introducing them again, before getting the bills into a hearing.

“I was so, so young and foolishly idealistic,” said Clarenbach. “Thinking that you could come in and propose something that was right, and then to have it kind of laughed out of the legislature."

In the same way as with religious groups, Clarenbach says getting lawmakers on board was about controlling the terms of the debate.

“Most politicians would perhaps even sell their grandmother to get reelected…we could not expect politicians to risk their political future by casting a risky, dangerous vote for gay rights. We had to do the opposite,” said Clarenbach.

“That they would risk their political future if they did not support LGBTQ rights.”

After years of effort, the bill got closer. In the early session of 1981, the Consenting Adults bill was defeated by one vote, 50 to 49. In the fall session, the Wisconsin Gay Rights Bill was introduced again and passed.

Clarenbach says thousands of people deserve the credit for laying the foundation for the bill to pass, not just lawmakers.

“We rolled up our sleeves and did the hard work it takes to make change happen. And we didn't do it in smoke filled back rooms of wheeling and dealing. I mean, I did have to, you know, trade votes once in a while to get, you know, an amendment passed or an amendment killed, but it wasn't an inside job. It wasn't smoke-filled back rooms,” said Clarenbach.

“We did this in the light of day. People knew what we were doing and the opponents just didn't either have the political muscle or the strategy to defeat us.”

On February 25th, 1982 Republican Governor Lee Dreyfus signed that bill into law. Wisconsin made history as the first state to ban discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. The Consenting Adults bill passed the next year in Wisconsin. Other states that followed suit used Wisconsin’s model, though this would not happen for nearly a decade.

“Here we are, this many years later, with a law that has not been seriously challenged in the 40, in excess of 40 years, since the bill became law and that's something I think that's a tribute, not just to the legislators or the body politic, but to the general public that has accepted as a tenant of our society that it shouldn't make any difference who you love or how you love,” said Clarenbach.

Seven years after Wisconsin passed the landmark legislation, the new Gay and Lesbian Visibility Alliance, or GALVanize, held in Madison what’s known as one of the city's first Pride parades. Clarenbach says the parade on a cold day in May was an important moment in Madison history, and one that was well received by the community.

“At the time, we really felt like that had accomplished something significant in and of itself, just having an opportunity to be that visible and with that kind of turnout, it made an important statement,” said Clarenbach.

The year after the gay rights bill was signed into law, members of the legislature elected Clarenbach as Speaker pro tempore, a role he held for ten years. He says one of the key parts to his success in the role was finding the middle ground with fellow lawmakers.

“Your conduct in the public arena says a lot about who you are. And the level of civility and decorum and respect for those who oppose you are an important component to making ours a more accepting and tolerant society. And if we're not willing to do that, then you can't really expect the other side to be tolerant and accepting your life for you,” said Clarenbach.

“Not a one note orchestra”

LGBTQ rights were not the only issue for Clarenbach.

When federal abortion rights were taken away in 2022, an archaic Wisconsin law went into effect. Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24th, 2022, activating a 1849 abortion law on Wisconsin’s books that bans the procedure in nearly all cases.

That pre-Civil War ban was something Clarenbach tried to change, saying he introduced a bill to repeal the restriction every session. He says it was not just anti-abortion lawmakers who kept changes from happening, it was conservative democrats who kept any bills from advancing.

“It would have been a tough vote for people to take. And if it's not necessary, why would you wanna risk our political future in the face of the anti abortion forces that were, and still are very strong, in this state in particular, when there was a protection of Roe versus Wade?”

A Dane County judge ruled in 2023 abortions could continue. Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court is expected to consider cases about the law.

Clarenbach served nine terms in the Assembly, served as a democratic delegate to multiple Democratic National Conventions and served on different committees. In 1992, he gave up his seat and ran for Congress in Wisconsin’s 2nd district and lost in the primary election.

“I was washed up before I was 40 years old, politically washed up,” said Clarenbach. “I had served in, you know, in public office for more than 20 years at that point. So it was time for me to move up or out, as they say.”

From 1995 through the 1996 election, Clarenbach led the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which supports openly gay and lesbian candidates running for office. Then, he worked as a political consultant.

Leaving a seat at the table

The lawmaker to take over his seat on the assembly was Tammy Baldwin, who made Wisconsin history as the first openly gay legislative candidate.

When she left to launch a now-four times successful campaign for the U.S. Senate, Baldwin made history as the first openly gay senator in the country. As Baldwin is still in the Senate, her assembly predecessor is still serving. Mark Pocan made history when he was signed into Wisconsin’s 2nd District as the first LGBTQ person to succeed an LGBTQ person in federally elected office, per Equality Pac.

“It is heartwarming to see the subsequent generations of the LGBTQ leaders making the progress that they have and that they continue to do that,” said Clarenbach. Clarenbach says he is proud of his association with Baldwin, saying she’s doing things he never dreamed were possible.

“Tammy is such a nice person. And, I mean, some people think that's a political weakness, but I think that's one of her strengths,” said Clarenbach.

“It's not just a facade or a charade. In her soul, she is a good person.”

The “horror show” of modern politics

When it comes to the Republican challenger Baldwin faced in the 2024 Election, businessman Eric Hovde, Clarenbach holds no punches: calling him creepy, a fucking liar, a hypocrite, a nasty person and “the kind of people that we don't need in politics.”

Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in politics is becoming commonplace, and consistently rising. 2023 saw a record amount of bills introduced targeting LGBTQ+ rights, triple the number from the last year. According to data from the ACLU, the total came in as at least 510. 2024 is set to break records yet again, with 532 bills already tracked across the country.

Republicans leaned into anti-trans messaging, especially during the election cycle. Multiple speakers at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee claimed there are only two genders and criticized transgender women playing sports, among others attacks on transgender people. These same sentiments were seen time and time again in political advertising, both in and out of Wisconsin. And Republicans put their money where their mouths are, dropping nearly $215 million dollars on anti-trans television ads, according to data from Ad Impact.

This spike in attacks is having major mental health impacts. The Trevor Project found LGBTQ+ youth specifically cite these targeted politics as a reason for poor mental health. After the 2024 election, The Trevor Project’s classic crisis services says they saw a spike in calls that were election related, with the majority of those calls coming from LGBTQ+ BIPOC youth. They also found 59% of Black transgender and nonbinary youth seriously considered suicide in the last year.

GayLife Chicago celebrates Wisconsin's victory

The Advocate celebrates Wisconsin's victory

David and fellow legislators celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Gay Rights Law in 1987.

David Clarenbach

“It is a matter of life and death, not just oral and civil rights, but it's a matter of living and breathing,” said Clarenbach.

A survey from KFF found 65% of LGBTQ adults reported discrimination when calling 988.

All these attacks come despite data showing this position being unpopular. Polling from Data For Progress just weeks before Election Day 2024 found that 74% of people said trans people deserve respect, and more than half of likely voters say anti-trans ads were “mean spirited” and “out of hand.”

“I would hope that the Republican party as an institution would pay a price politically for taking the stances that they do on a whole range of issues and recognize that it's in their self interest to be more accepting,” said Clarenbach. “There are undoubtedly some truly evil people that are spearheading the right way movement, whether it's on reproductive rights, or trans rights, or gay and lesbian civil rights…but I don't think that a majority of Americans are. I don't think anywhere even a significant minority of Americans are.”

Even though unpopular, this can lead to real world consequences, with the FBI reporting a record high in anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes. The actual number of hate crimes could be higher though, as members of the LGBTQ community have reported harassment from police and often fear they will not be believed. With two months still left in the year, according to the Human Rights campaign, at least 27 trans and gender nonconforming people have been killed in 2024; 74% of those killed were people of color. In 2022, 41 transgender and gender-expansive people were killed, preceded by 51 deaths in 2021.

“It is the same kind of bigotry and hatred that is being used as an easy political wedge issue. and we need to make it not so easy for people, creeps, like Eric Hovde to gain political foothold over the dead bodies of trans individuals who aren't just being discriminated against and belittled…but belittled and killed,” said Clarenbach.

Clarenbach says the GOP’s treatment of transgender people is similar to homophobia from his time in public office.

“The right wing has very successfully built this horror show of 'oh, what happens to transgender individuals in high school sports or locker rooms,’” he said with sarcasm.

“‘I will protect your daughters’ is the same thing that 40 or 50 years ago, people were saying, ‘gays and lesbians? You want a fag to be your son's gym teacher? You know, hanging out in the locker room, hanging out in the showers, uh-oh, what are we gonna do?’”

David Clarenbach

The historic bill Clarenbach helped pass in Wisconsin fails to mention gender identity, something he has called an omission. He says in this day and age, there is no excuse to exclude trans people.

“For anyone to fail to make that part of their agenda, even for people who don't know anyone who's trans, is an ethical and moral shame,” said Clarenbach. “Shame on any politician today who doesn't recognize that reproductive rights and trans rights are part and parcel of the movement of civil rights, and that should be the mantra of our society today.”

Clarenbach has been widely credited for his work in the public sector, even called a figurehead in gay rights. But he stays humble about it all.

“I'm proud to be a figurehead of historical accomplishments, but I sort of feel like I'm a quaint relic of the past. You know, it's been more than three decades since I was in the public arena of gay and lesbian civil rights,” said Clarenbach.

“But it was an honor to have served and to have had the confidence of my community.”

Clarenbach says representation and acceptance are crucial parts of moving forward, and is something he is already seeing.

“It's just miraculous that there are kids today who are empowered to recognize their sexuality at such a young age and to have parents who are accepting and supportive of that. More than any piece of legislation or historical punishment, that's what warms my heart and affirms to me that my life is worthwhile,” said Clarenbach.

“It is not just headlines and political accomplishments, but it enhances the real lives of real people in real ways. And that's what it's all about. It's not about getting headlines or credit for this or that."

"It's people that are empowered today and liberated today that in my generation would be laughed out of school, probably kicked out of school, bullied, beat up, killed. Now that those things aren't happening still today, it's less tolerated.”

Clarenbach says he hopes and believes there will someday be a progressive component of the Republican Party. Time and time again, Clarenbach pointed to the years of hard work in the community to get gay rights in Wisconsin.

But there is still work to be done. Wisconsin has yet to ban conversion therapy. There are laws that make references to husband and wife still, according to Wisconsin Watch. Clarenbach says being on the right side of history may not always be easiest, but it’s time to do the hard work.

“We just have to be ready for the fight -- but recognize that there's no magic wand, there's no instant success. We need to redouble our efforts and maintain the commitment to a more accepting and tolerant society for everyone,” said Clarenbach.

"These are difficult days, particularly on reproductive rights and trans rights, but we're on the right side of history."