- Yet, by the 1970s,
there were still no laws in America
that protected those lives.
Homosexuals were often regarded as criminals.
In Wisconsin, the pursuit of equal rights
would bring together an unlikely group
on the cusp of making history.
- Dick Wagner: It was time to speak out for homosexuals.
- Assemblyman Lloyd Barbee
was an ally to the gay rights movement.
Before his time in the Legislature,
Barbee was a civil rights attorney
who fought housing discrimination
and led the effort
to desegregate Milwaukee's public schools.
Elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1964,
he was the only African American
in either house of the Legislature.
- Dick Wagner: Barbee felt deeply about the American promise
that should be extended to all who were a part of society.
In his view, not only African Americans,
but homosexuals deserved rights, as well.
- Barbee was a bold pioneer for social reform
and was the first legislator to challenge
the sex laws in Wisconsin,
calling to decriminalize homosexuality
and legalize gay marriage.
- David Clarenbach: He was frequently referred to in the press
as "The Outrageous Mr. Barbee"
because he introduced these bills that were
way, way before their time.
But thank goodness he did.
- Dick Wagner: He believed in
introducing legislation to educate folks.
And he was not shy about this.
- David Clarenbach: He stuck to his principles and objectives.
And he took a lot of flak because of that.
- Lloyd Barbee: I think that homosexuals
should not be harassed and beaten down
and brutalized and insulted.
And we should not tolerate it.
- Morality laws
that had been on the books since the 1800s
criminalized a variety of sexual acts;
applying to everyone, not just homosexuals.
- David Clarenbach: Most people didn't recognize
how restrictive Wisconsin statutes were
in criminalizing sex acts that were pretty commonplace.
Things like oral sex,
even between a man and a woman
who were legally, lawfully married,
was a criminal offense in Wisconsin.
- Yet, these morality laws were selectively enforced;
a means to target and prosecute homosexuals.
- David Clarenbach: It was an excuse
for rooting out gays and lesbians and bisexuals
in the state.
- In 1974, at the age of 21,
David Clarenbach was the youngest member
elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly.
- David Clarenbach: I certainly had known that I was gay
before I was elected to public office.
But it wasn't a time when I felt comfortable to come out,
especially as an extraordinarily young candidate.
- Clarenbach grew up in Madison,
his family heavily involved in social reform movements.
His mother, Kathryn, was a co-founder
of the National Organization for Women,
the largest feminist group in America.
In the Legislature,
David Clarenbach teamed up with Lloyd Barbee.
- David Clarenbach: Lloyd Barbee was not just my role model
and my mentor, but he really was a prophet.
- Together, they drove legislation
to completely overhaul
the sex laws in Wisconsin.
But the two men were unsuccessful
in gaining enough support from their fellow lawmakers
to advance such broad reform.
- Lloyd Barbee: It's not the job of the state...
- In 1977, Lloyd Barbee left the Legislature.
- Dick Wagner: Barbee passed the baton on sex reform leadership
to David.
- Rather than introducing bills calling for sweeping change,
Clarenbach instead
focused on single-issue legislation.
He would land on the Consenting Adults Bill,
a law which would repeal
the morality laws that criminalized homosexuality.
- David Clarenbach: They want those
in violation of those statutes put in jail.
- Dick Wagner: The basic premise of homophobia
is that homosexuals are criminals.
- The Consenting Adults Bill faced an uphill battle,
taking Clarenbach years to advance it.
- David Clarenbach: Each session, it gained a little more traction.
It kept moving forward.
And then, finally, in 1981,
the Consenting Adults Law
came to a vote in the Assembly,
and we lost it by one vote.
- A narrow defeat.
But with bipartisan support,
hope was still alive.
- David Clarenbach: This was a question of momentum.
- Dick Wagner: The bill had
both Republicans and Democrats supporting it.
- David Clarenbach: It proved a legislator
could cast a vote for gay rights,
and not feel that they're jeopardizing
their own reelection campaign.
- In Wisconsin, an opportunity was within reach.
[pounds gavel]
Clarenbach signed on to co-sponsor
a nondiscrimination gay rights bill,
which would add sexual orientation
to protected nondiscrimination categories
such as race, age, and religion,
ensuring someone could not be fired
from their job
or denied a mortgage for being homosexual.
For the bill to succeed,
an expansive coalition of support
would need to be built from the ground up.
- David Clarenbach: The gay rights movement would not have advanced
if it weren't for gay bars and a gay press.
- The gay press kept people informed,
tracking the progress of the bill through the Legislature,
while gay bars became a place for people to organize,
creating an outreach effort
to build public support for the bill.
However, to convince some lawmakers who were on the fence,
the gay rights movement needed to gain an unlikely ally:
one that had condemned homosexuality for centuries.
- David Clarenbach: We needed to get religious support
from the mainstream religious community.
[nuns praying]
- The leader in the outreach effort was Leon Rouse,
a UW-Milwaukee student activist
who organized a supportive group of pastors and rabbis.
- Dick Wagner: You had to knock on doors and say,
"Tell us what you think
about homosexuals and about homosexual issues."
It took some bravery to start knocking on those doors.
- Rouse was short of a vital endorsement.
The head of Milwaukee's Catholic Church,
Archbishop Rembert Weakland.
After weeks of attending mass,
Rouse finally approached the archbishop with his pitch.
- Dick Wagner: It's not whether homosexuality is being approved.
It's whether discrimination is tolerable.
- David Clarenbach: Could discrimination and bigotry be tolerated
against any group in our society?
That question turned the tide.
- Archbishop Weakland pledged his support.
- Dick Wagner: Archbishop Weakland said that
"We have to see gay people
"not as an enemy to be battered down,
but as persons worthy of respect and friendship."
- David Clarenbach: It was decisive.
Earth-shattering that a Catholic Archbishop
would advocate in such a public way.
- In December of 1981,
the gay rights nondiscrimination bill
passed in the Wisconsin Assembly.
Moving on to the state Senate for a final vote.
- David Clarenbach: It was going to be close,
and we had one shot at this.
- On that fateful day,
the LGBTQ+ community would not stand alone.
- David Clarenbach: Well, to be able to sit in the Senate chambers
and see the galleries packed with nuns and priests
and other religious leaders
sent the message that it was a moral statement
to oppose discrimination and bigotry
against any group in our society.
- The nondiscrimination bill passed in the Senate
with religious backing and bipartisan support.
On February 25, 1982,
the nation's first gay rights legislation
was signed into law
by Wisconsin Republican governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus.
- Dick Wagner: It was an exciting moment.
- David Clarenbach: We accomplished something
that no one thought was possible.
No one would have guessed in 1982
that of all states,
Wisconsin would be the first state in the nation
to enact civil rights protections
for gays and lesbians.
But Wisconsin became known as "the gay rights state."
- Crowd chanting: Wis-con-sin, gay rights state, Wis-con-sin, gay rights state,
- Within a year,
Wisconsin passed the Consenting Adults Bill,
followed by three additional landmark pieces of legislation
protecting civil rights.
All starting with a vision for the future,
the courage to bridge a gap,
and the belief in equality.
- David Clarenbach: You did not have to be a female
to believe in equal rights for women
any more than you needed to be LGBT or Q
to be supportive of gay and lesbian civil rights.
Civil rights are for everyone.