Source: St Paul Pioneer Press , Minneapolis Star Tribune Former Minnesota state Sen. Allan Spear, 71, who died Saturday, left a legacy as one of Minnesota's most influential lawmakers and as the nation's first openly gay man to serve in a state legislature. Spears took great personal and political risk in 1974 when he announced that he was gay. Gay and lesbian Minnesotans lived in a state much less accepting and just than the one they know today.  It was a risk well worth taking. Spear, who was in the middle of his first term in 1974, went on to ...