The collection consists of photographs; articles by and about Brian Coyle; electoral materials documenting his unsuccessful senatorial, mayoral and city council campaigns, as well as his successful 1983 city council campaign; flyers; photocopies of family correspondence and greeting cards; and photocopies of articles, papers, photographs and drawings from Coyle’s childhood, high school and college years. A 1960s civil rights and anti-war activist who became the first openly gay Minneapolis City Council member, Brian Coyle died of AIDS on August 23, 1991.

A 1960s civil rights and anti-war activist who became the first openly gay Minneapolis City Council member, Brian Coyle died of AIDS on August 23, 1991. A community activist during his 20s, Coyle entered electoral politics in the late 70s, running unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 1978, for the mayor of Minneapolis in 1979, and, in 1981, for the Minneapolis City Council. Coyle was elected to the Minneapolis City Council in 1983, and was chosen by his Council peers as Vice-President in 1990. As a council member, Coyle was an advocate for senior citizens, the poor and homeless, people of color, and gays and lesbians. He lobbied for increased AIDS funding, and his last and proudest political achievement was the passage, in 1990, of a local domestic partners ordinance, at its time, the most progressive legislation of its kind in the Midwest. Coyle made his first public disclosure about his HIV status in the fall of 1990 at the annual meeting of Lesbian and Gay Appointed and Elected Officials. He went public about his HIV in the Twin Cities in April of 1991, making his disclosure an opportunity to educate the citizens of Minneapolis about HIV. His health deteriorated quickly following his public disclosure.

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