Rawstory breaking news on GOP outing

[Coexist]

www.rawstory.com

BREAKING: SOLE MINNESOTA GOP STATE LAWMAKER WHO OPPOSED GAY MARRIAGE AMENDMENT COMES OUT, BACKS EXPOSING PRIVATELY GAY POLITICIANS WHO THWART GAY RIGHTS... DEVELOPING HARD...
A Minnesota state senator who bucked his party in voting against a measure to amend the state’s constitution to prohibit gay marriage has told RAW STORY that he is gay. The senator, Republican Paul Koering, has also endorsed efforts to expose gay politicians who wield their power to oppose gay rights. Koering hails from farm country, some 150 miles north of Minneapolis. He says his decision to come out was a complex one, but that the marriage amendment vote—aligned with the two year anniversary of his mother’s death—finally led him to believe the time was right. As a proud Republican legislator who stood alone against his party to take a stand against what he sees as discrimination, Koering’s support for reporting on “hypocritical” gay politicians—including Republicans—is certain to send a shockwave through the Washington gay community.

[paineinthearse]

1. From Paul Koering's 2002 senate campaign website

:yourock: Looking forward to reading the finished product!

http://www.paulkoering.com/

Paul's Biography

AGE: 37
OCCUPATION: Business Owner/Farmer
EDUCATION: High School
RELIGION: Roman Catholic, St. Mathias Catholic Church

COMMUNITY SERVICE MEMBERSHIPS

• Brainerd Area Sertoma Club
• Brainerd Area Moose Lodge
• Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus
• Crow Wing County Agricultural Society
• Minnesota Deer Hunters Association
• Brainerd area Chamber of Commerce
• Minnesota Farm Bureau
• Heartland Animal Rescue Team, Humane Society
• MCCL – Minnesota Concerned Citizens for Life
• Brainerd YMCA
• Farm Credit Member Relations Committee

PAST COMMUNITY SERVICE MEMBERSHIPS
Crow Wing County Fair Board
Crow Wing County Board of Adjustments
Brainerd Community Education Advisory Committee
Minnesota Farm Bureau Board of Directors

SPECIAL INTERESTS
Education
Affordable Health Care
Agriculture
Criminal Justice

BACKGROUND

Paul believes very strongly in public service and is seeking the Minnesota Senate seat that is currently held by Senator Don Samuelson. He has run against the long-time incumbent twice before in 1996 and 2000. In 1996 Paul won a respectable 47% of the votes in District 12. In the 2000 election year, Paul received 49.60% of the votes overall in the district, carrying Crow Wing County.

Paul is currently a small business owner in the Brainerd area. He owns a funeral hearse business that services 3 funeral homes and is the official transport for the Crow Wing County Coroner. Until the fall of 2000, Paul ran a dairy farm in St. Mathias for 15 years. He continues to farm a few acres at his home place. Paul remains active in the agricultural community serving on the Farm Credit Member Relations Committee, a member of the Crow Wing County Agricultural Society and he is a member and past state board director of the Minnesota Farm Bureau.

Other public services Paul is involved in include being an active member of the several community organizations listed above and helping out with various fundraisers and events in the community.

[ananda]

15. daammm

A reeptile bitch.. who'da thunk it.

[annabanana]

26. I just sent him some congratulations

on his principled stand. I'm glad that he has come to see that it is incumbent on those who truly understand discrimination to fight it.

I figure he's going to get hammered by a bunch of people he thought were his "friends".....

[Melodybe]

2. Watch out Rush, we're on to you.

[brystheguy]

3. OOOohh, this could be good!

I'd like to see a few embarrassed faces in the Republican Party. The thing is that they'll just deny it and get away with it. But, who knows, maybe the tide is slowly turning. Even Republicans can't stand their own hypocrisy.

[atreides1]

4. Yes, It Could be Good

At one time a denial would have been good enough, but not anymore.

If this does occur, then it has to rubbed into the faces of the fanatical American Taliban, to show them their hypocrisy, and to
put it out there for all the world to see.

[havocmom]

6. LOL If closeted GOP lawmakers take part in promoting legislating against

equal rights for gays, then that legislation must be part of the dreaded gay agenda the American Taliban is so concerned about. Spread the word and watch for exploding RWers.
:popcorn:

[FreedomAngel82]

30. Yep

Just go "see! They're doing it so why not us?" They'll just abandon the person and claim not to know them. With me I think of the republican party as some elite rich country club where you have to be just like each other or you're an outcast etc. :shrug: That's just how I feel. And marriage isn't a gift from God but a gift from the government I think. The government officials could easily say nobody can get married. When the people get married the preacher says "by the power vested in me by *insert state name here*".

[flyarm]

27. they will use the delay tactics

and blame it all on us dems!!

we made them gay!! i can just hear rush and o'liely now!!

fly

[Dr Fate]

5. PLEASE be true!!!!!!!

!!!!!

[Coexist]

7. I don't know their record

but I don't recall Rawstory being wrong since I have been reading them.

[Coexist]

8. fulll story now available

http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne/paul_koering_minnesota_comes_out_413

[Renew Deal]

9. Now there's a guy with guts.

:patriot:

[FreedomAngel82]

31. Yep

I read the story and I'm glad he's for this too. Why he's a republican I don't know. :shrug: But good for him for stepping up. This is what I liked: <“It’s hampered me from doing the real work that I want to do here,” Koering told RAW STORY. “I just felt that I need to talk to these reporters and say, ‘Yep I’m gay, so what?’ and now that’s done let’s talk about the real issues, good paying jobs with healthcare benefits, talk about issues that affect families and people in their daily lives.”>

That's so true. Who should care what your sexuality is?

[demokatgurrl]

35. He sounds just like a Democrat. n/t

[EFerrari]

10. Wow. If this is accurate, we need to send this man some DU support.

Anyone have contact links for him?

[Nothing Without Hope]

18. I agree - he's going to get poisonous hate mail and probably death threats

We need to do what we can to counter those, to make him feel the support that he deserves in this.

He's also another example of how we shouldn't demonize ALL Repubicans. The neocons, yes, but there are still some people of integrity in the overwhelmed, hijacked Republican party.

[lojasmo]

38. Here's contact information....his website.

www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/bios/sendis12.htm

[EFerrari]

39. Thank you! n/t

[rocktivity]

11. Your move, Mr. DeLay.

:evilgrin:
rocknation

[NightOwwl]

12. Bet there is some heavy sweating going on...

“And I sometimes find that, I feel that the people that you find who are hollering the loudest and who are putting people down the most are the ones that have the most to hide,” he added. “They’re so uncomfortable in their own skin that they have to tear everybody else down to make themselves feel good.”

Rick, Rick Santorum is that you? :evilgrin:

[SemperEadem]

19. the guilty make the most noise

[FreedomAngel82]

32. That is so true

Haha. Gotta love it. And that's how they work and it's purely disgusting.

[Misunderestimator]

13. "expose gay politicians who wield their power to oppose gay rights"

Go, Senator Koering!!

[rocktivity]

14. Do we have Michele Bachmann to thank as well?

Paul Koering...says his decision to come out was a complex one, but that the marriage amendment vote—aligned with the two year anniversary of his mother’s death—finally led him to believe the time was right.

Do we have Michele Bachmann to thank as well?

She's the Minnesota state sentator who tried to force a floor vote on a ban on gay marriage while a gay rally was going on outside. She ended up having to hide in the bushes (she's under the red arrow on the left)!

:headbang:
rocknation

[progressoid]

28. WTF? That's just loony

[applegrove]

16. Good. No point in letting the neocons & rovbots get you to eat away at

yourself from the inside out.

:yourock:

[Nothing Without Hope]

17. What wonderful courage! I hope he leads the way for a lot of others to

come out of hiding. I suspect the example of pioneering out-of-the-closeter Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts helped him.

This man is a hero. I hope he can find peace and can help others find it too. And I also hope he KICKS SOME NEOCON ASS on the Hate Amendments issue.

[Geek_Girl]

20. Good for him!

That had to be a difficult decision to make but in the end people have to live with themselves.

[FreedomAngel82]

33. I agree

Especially with the republicans catering to the fundies. :crazy: If you hide everything for so long you'd just end up being hateful and petty and everything.

[Jade Fox]

21. Why do people like this become Republicans??

Does it somehow escape them that if Republicans had their way gays
would be blatantly discriminated against?

It reminds me of a great-great Aunt of mine, who upon being granted the
right to vote promptly voted Republican. If it had been up to Conservatives,
women would never have gotten the vote and given her a chance to vote
for them. She thought that was funny. I thought she was an ungrateful
idiot.

[democracyindanger]

22. According to David Brock in "Blinded by the Right"

it's self hatred. That, he believes was his reason.

[Nikki Stone 1]

24. I think "self hatred" is correct, along with a desire to be "acceptable"

The kind of courage it takes to be "out" in politics is considerable, and I applaud those who are.

[hadrons]

36. a lot of gays have conservative parents and becoming a Repuke is a way ...

of kind of way of compensating ("I dissapointed them by being gay, so I'll make it up to them this way")

Also, you can be gay and have a low IQ

[Carolab]

23. WOO HOO

Paul Koering makes up for Michele Bachmann's vile behavior!!!

Good old Minnesota. Eventually EVERYONE here goes blue!!! (It's the cold, you see...)

[candy331]

25. And to this this is the party that holds the key to moral values in this

country. I hope he goes ahead and start the outing because I am sick of the haters spewing hatred and hiding in the close. Start the fire with Karl Rove find his strong point and attack, attack, attack.


"And I sometimes find that, I feel that the people that you find who are hollering the loudest and who are putting people down the most are the ones that have the most to hide,” .

[progressoid]

29. Soon he'll be coming out as an independent or Democrat too

[FreedomAngel82]

34. I wonder

I wonder though. If only thing he disagree's with them about is religion issues he might stay republican. My thing is will they keep him? :shrug:

[progressoid]

37. Yep, he may want to stay but come re-election time

party support and money could dry up.

[EFerrari]

40. But we don't have to stand by and watch that happen. See # 38

Time to stand up and be counted, no?