Roland Richard Wagner (September 23, 1943 – December 13, 2021) was an American historian, activist, and politician, most noted for his work in Wisconsin LGBT history, the creation of organizations to elect gays and lesbians to public office, and public service to Madison, Wisconsin and Dane County.

His dissertation was titled “Virtue Against Vice: A Study of Moral Reformers and Prostitution in the Progressive Era.” As a student at UW-Madison, Wagner organized rallies against the Vietnam war and was involved with the Eugene McCarthy presidential campaign and the 1970 gubernatorial election.

[4] In addition to his service on the Dane County Board, in 1993, he co-founded the New Harvest Foundation, which funds Wisconsin’s LGBT communities.

In 1981, Wagner recruited Kathleen Nichols to run in the upcoming 1982 election for the Dane County Board of Supervisors as an out lesbian.

[9] In 1982, Wagner again worked with Clarenbach and others in the state legislature to statewide bill to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Clarenbach later says “I don’t think I can overstate the role he played…If there was no Dick Wagner, I doubt Wisconsin would have become the Gay Rights State.”[1] In 1983, newly elected Governor Tony Earl, who had campaigned on gay rights, asked Wagner and Nichols to travel around the state and meet with LGBT groups and communities and report back to him on what issues his administration could tackle.

After they completed their visits, Earl appointed Wagner and Nichols as co-chairs of the newly established Governor’s Council on Lesbian and Gay Issues.

In 2019, Wagner authored We've Been Here All Along, which discussed Wisconsin's LGBT history from the media's reporting of the trials of Oscar Wilde to the Stonewall Riots.

Wagner drew on archival material to uncover previously untold stories of LGBT Wisconsinites and the development of their communities, identities, and support networks.