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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

WTF: Whose Side Are You On?

From the Minnesota Independent:

State Sen. Paul Koering, R-Fort Ripley, told KLKS on Friday that he will not vote for the Marriage and Family Protection Act, a bill that would make Minnesota’s marriage laws gender-neutral, allowing same-sex couples many of the rights currently denied by Minnesota statute. Koering, who is gay and a Republican, said he would vote against it because the state faces bigger problems.

Koering came out in 2005 after voting against a constitutional amendment to ban civil unions and same-sex marriage pushed by then-State Sen. Michele Bachmann. He is one of very few openly gay elected Republicans in the United States and was re-elected by his conservative Brainerd-area constituents in 2006, despite a hard push by religious right activists to defeat him for his votes on gay rights.

When he came out in 2005, he was cautious about pushing hard for same-sex marriage, a position he still appears to hold.

“I think some of the gay activists will be upset with me for this, but sometimes I think an agenda is pushed so far and so fast that people have no alternative but to push back,” Koering told Raw Story at the time. “And I think that sometimes you have to move slowly.”

There's a reason why so few gay Republicans get elected. Can you say asshole?

3 comments:

Kevin said...

An asshole.. perhaps. He's put himself into a position where his political beliefs clash with his identity - like many other gay politicians that side with a platform that restricts their rights to live and let live.

However, I think it's less of him being an "asshole" and more of him not having a backbone.

Russ Manley said...

Ah Kevin baby, don't ever change, stay just as sweet and kindhearted as you are right now, always.

But this old fart says an asshole by any other name would stink just as bad . . . .

Ultra Dave said...

Kevin is right. Seems the old boy needs to grow a pair. The old saying " lead, follow or get the hell out of the way" comes to mind.

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