Irene Gomez-Bethke (right) and a colleague representing a committee at a meeting in Oklahoma City, 1970s. Used with the permission of Jesse Bethke Gomez.

Irene Gomez-Bethke, ca. 1990s. Used with the permission of Jesse Bethke Gomez.

Members of the International Indian Treaty Council (Sherry Means, Ted Means, Marcy Gilbert, Joe Lafferty, Pat Bellanger, and Bill Wahpepah) stand in front of the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, during their visit to the United Nations, September 1977. The United Nations hosted the International NGO Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas between September 20 and 23. Photograph by Dick Bancroft; used with the permission of the estate of Dick Bancroft.

The members of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) gather for a group photograph in Geneva, Switzerland, during their visit to the United Nations, September 1977. The United Nations hosted the International NGO Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas between September 20 and 23. Pat Bellanger stands in the third row from the front, left of center, wearing a red shirt. Clyde Bellecourt kneels in the row in front of her, also in a red shirt, to her left. Photograph by Dick Bancroft; used with the permission of the estate of Dick Bancroft.

Irene Paull, Joe Paszak, and an unidentified person, 1937.

Centro Cultural Latino founders Ronn Vargas and Irene Gomez-Bethke (far right and third from right) with Minneapolis Mayor Don Fraser (second from right), Chuy Negrete, and an unidentified man, 1982. From “Photographs, undated and 1981–1988,” in box 1 of the Irene Gomez-Bethke papers, Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

Souvenir handkerchief, manufacturer unknown, 1990. The commemorates a visit to Minnesota by Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the Soviet Union, in 1990.

"Welcome Gorbachev" button and flag manufactured in Minnesota and worn to commemorate the visit of Mikhail Gorbachev to the Twin Cities in 1990.

Allan Spear accomplished a lot in his three decades in the Minnesota Senate. But it’s the 1993 Minnesota Human Rights Act that he would call his “proudest legislative victory.” MN90 Producer Andi McDaniel finds out how one of the first openly gay Americans serving in elected office made Minnesota proud.