St. Paul, Minnesota — Former State Representative Karen Clark passed away today after a brief illness. She was 80 years old.
Rep. Clark served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1981 to 2019. She was the first openly lesbian member to serve in the Minnesota Legislature. She is also the longest serving openly lesbian member to serve in a state legislature in the United States.
Rep. Clark was instrumental in 1993 in amending the Minnesota Human Rights Act to ban discrimination against LGBTQ Minnesotans in employment, education, housing, and more. In 2013, after Minnesota voters rejected an anti-marriage equality constitutional amendment, Rep. Clark was the House chief author of successful legislation that made marriage equality the law of the land in Minnesota.
She was a champion for environmental justice, and it was woven in every aspect of her work. For example, she successfully passed a workers-right-to-know bill regarding exposure to toxins in the workplace, and the Cumulative Health Impact Analysis, which provides a comprehensive look at all environmental, pollution, and health burdens that affect a community or neighborhood. Rep. Clark was the co-founder and longtime activist executive director of the Women’s Environmental Institute. In recent years, she was a strong advocate for the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute’s Roof Depot project, an urban farm project in south Minneapolis.
Rep. Clark and her partner, Jacquelyn Zita, were together for 35 years and married for 11 years. Jacquelyn and the Clark family are grieving and ask for privacy at this time.
Details on Rep. Clark’s memorial services will be forthcoming.