Penfield Tate

Penfield Wallace Tate II was the first and only black mayor of Boulder, Colorado. Tate was mayor from 1974 to 1976 and served on Boulder's City Council from 1972 to 1974, and won the most votes of all candidates. He is the only black mayor to serve in Boulder County Tate, as stated by his son, put "Boulder in the forefront of the state in terms of examining tough social issues in terms of equal rights or gay rights" He died in 1993 after a battle with cancer and pneumonia. Tate's son Penfield Tate III is an active politician in Denver, Colorado. In 2020 the city of Boulder proposed renaming its municipal building at 1777 Broadway after Tate. He was also honored with a mural installed on the Boulder Public Library North Building.

Early life Penfield "Pen" Wallace Tate II was born on June 11, 1931, to Penfield and Vera Jane Houston Tate in New Philadelphia, Ohio. He was the second eldest of ten children. Tate married his wife Ellen in Philadelphia on September 17, 1955. Protesters of the amendment sent hate mail and death threats to Tate and his family. Due to his passionate advocation for LGBTQ rights, Tate was surrounded by controversy and thus, failed to win re-election for mayor. He remains an icon of early LGBTQ rights supporters in Boulder and Colorado.