Richard Carlbom Is Spreading Midwest Equality to the Coasts

The Fighters: Richard Carlbom was one of the leading strategists behind bringing marriage equality to Minnesota. Now he's sharing his skills with the rest of the country.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

Read Full Bio

Trudy Ring

August 19 2014 4:00 AM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

trudestress

We need your help
Your support makes The Advocate's original LGBTQ+ reporting possible. Become a member today to help us continue this work.

Richard Carlbom, 33
St. Paul, Minn.
@richardcarlbom

Richard Carlbom helped bring marriage equality to Minnesota, and now he's trying to do the same for the nation. As campaign manager for Minnesotans United for All Families, he led the effort that persuaded voters to reject an anti-marriage equality state constitutional amendment in 2012, and the following year successfully lobbied the state legislature to enact a law granting marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Now, as partner and cofounder of the consulting firm United Strategies, he's working for client Freedom to Marry in the fight for coast-to-coast equality. Fortunately, he does know a bit about winning. Besides the marriage equality victories, his successes include managing the 2010 reelection campaign for Minnesota congressman Tim Walz and, at age 23, becoming the youngest mayor ever elected in the state. He served as mayor of the city of St. Joseph from 2005 to 2007. He says he's learned that being reasonable and gathering allies are the keys to making a winning argument.

"It's OK for it to be emotional," he explains, "but not for it to be combative."

Allies from the marriage equality fight will benefit the LGBT movement in other ways, he adds, as they can help push for antidiscrimination laws and other measures. "With those allies, we can accomplish so much more than the freedom to marry," says Carlbom.