[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 19528]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING DAVID CLARENBACH

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TAMMY BALDWIN

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 17, 2007

  Ms. BALDWIN. Madam Speaker, as the State of Wisconsin celebrates the 
25th anniversary of the Nation's first Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights 
Act, I rise today to honor the courageous individual who authored this 
historic legislation, David Clarenbach.
  David Clarenbach is a seasoned veteran of local, state, and national 
politics. He won his first term as a Dane County Supervisor at the age 
of 18, and was elected to the Madison Common Council in 1974. He served 
in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1975 to 1993, and was Speaker pro 
tem from 1983 to 1993. In 1992 David was a Democratic Congressional 
candidate from Wisconsin's Second District.
  Throughout his career, David Clarenbach has been intimately involved 
in the growth and development of the LGBT civil rights movement. During 
his tenure in the Wisconsin Legislature he wrote the Gay and Lesbian 
Civil Rights Act of 1982, the first in the Nation to include gay and 
lesbian people in statewide anti-discrimination laws. He authored 
Wisconsin's Hate Crimes Act, which was upheld unanimously by the U.S. 
Supreme Court. He sponsored a Bill of Rights for people with AIDS and 
HIV infection. And, in 1983, he authored the Consenting Adults Act, 
legalizing all sexual activity between consenting adults in private, 
thus repealing the state's sodomy prohibitions. He has served as a 
consultant and mentor to openly gay and lesbian candidates throughout 
the country.
  Bringing together his vast experience in policy development, 
legislative relations, and grassroots organizing, on February 3, 1981, 
then Wisconsin State Representative David Clarenbach introduced 
Assembly Bill 70 to include discrimination based on sexual orientation 
in the state's prohibition on discrimination in employment, housing, 
and public accommodations. At the time only 41 municipalities and 8 
counties in the United States offered limited protections against 
discrimination based on sexual orientation. In explaining the bill, 
Representative Clarenbach stated that ``the right of private sexual 
preference among adults should be considered inherent . . . he or she 
should be guaranteed the basic human right to live without harassment 
or discrimination.'' The bill was endorsed by a broad coalition of 
clergy, religious denominations, and medical and professional groups.
  In October 1981, Assembly Bill 70 was approved by the Wisconsin State 
Assembly by a vote of 50 to 46, and in February 1982, the Wisconsin 
State Senate approved the proposal by a vote of 19 to 13. Later that 
month, Republican Governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus signed Assembly Bill 70 
into law, making Wisconsin the first in the Nation to enact a civil 
rights statute covering sexual orientation.
  For his tenacity, his skills, and most of all, his courage, I join 
with all of Wisconsin in saluting David Clarenbach.

                          ____________________