Now this is courage. After bucking his party's vote in favor of amending the state constitution to prohibit gay marriage, Minnesota GOP State Senator and former farmer Paul Koering decided to come out, and told Mike Rogers of BlogActive that he believes hypocritical politicians should be outed. He says that the chair of the Crowing Country Republicans told him the executive committee might consider asking for his resignation--for coming out! Also, the head of the National LCR totally blew him off, though an underling did make nice.

More at Raw Story

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<small>[ April 13, 2005, 07:18 PM: Message edited by: fantomas ]</small>

I wonder how he will do during the next election? I guess this will prove once and for all if inclusion really does win.

Fantomas - thanks for posting this. It's amazing the non-sports current events I learn from this message board. (And no, I'm not under the influence of PhillyFan wink )

In all fairness, they were probably all running around trying to figure out who their COO is.

<small>[ April 14, 2005, 06:39 AM: Message edited by: RazorbackTX ]</small>

I wonder how he would have felt if he had been outed before he was ready to come out and do it? It's really safe to say it's okay to out people once you have made the decision to do it on your own. I believe that those who are one of us, yet continue to remain in the closet and support a Party that hates us should be outed to expose their own hypocrisy.

Ha! My first good laugh of the day!

<small>[ April 14, 2005, 07:30 AM: Message edited by: Joe in Philly ]</small>

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: GOP Sen Paul Koering reveals he's gay

Hey Scottie, even if you were under PF's influence, it wouldn't bother me. Everyone can be hypnotized at least once.

Canmark, the Star-Tribune allegedy snatched Mike Rogers' story.

Bobby, Raw Story and BlogActive actually decided NOT to out Koering after people had sent them photos of Koering visiting a gay bar. Rogers called Koering, asked him if he was gay, and Koering came out to Rogers. When a right-wing GOP colleague (who wants to be the next U.S. Senator from Minnesota), Michele Bachmann, pushed again for an anti-gay marriage amendment, that also pushed Koering to come out.

I do find Koering's comments about gay marriage disappointing. To say society isn't "ready" for certain things is sort of a cop out. Gay marriage exists in one state, and it hasn't caused the total collapse either of straight marriages in that state (the divorce rate is among the lowest) or the destruction of the family or the autonomy of churches or any of the other dire predictions anti-gay marriage fanatics have claimed. Minnesota wouldn't fall apart because of gay marriages, or even civil unions. Connecticut is set to legislate them into law very soon. There's a great word for a person who refuse to change their beliefs even in the face of all contrary evidence: Mumpsimus. The Mumpsimi (Mumpsimuses) on the right (of whatever party) are the greatest barrier to our full equality--or, to echo the current talking point/mantra, "freedom."

<small>[ April 14, 2005, 09:35 AM: Message edited by: fantomas ]</small>

If this guy has the nerve to stand up for who he is and dump the Republican party, he might go places. Minnesota is looking for the next Wellstone.

Oh, come on, even I'm tired of this one. Part of who he is is Republican. He is standing up for who he is by coming out as an elected republican official. Now we'll see if he can stay either elected or within the party without cowtowing to the religious right. I'm betting not, but then, I'm a pessimist.

It does seem that he was out to some people before coming out publicly.

Apparently, "the Minnesota Legislature has two other openly gay members, both Democrats from Minneapolis." (from a different article)

But there may be some dissent.

There's that darn "homosexual lifestyle" thing again.

Edit: to correct mis-wording

<small>[ April 14, 2005, 03:05 PM: Message edited by: canmark ]</small>

Koering wasn't outed, he publicly came out. BlogActive chose NOT to out him (it's on the April 4, 2005) post. He came out instead, though with some prodding from Rogers.

Ed Schrock, Ken Mehlman, James Gurley, David Dreier, Jim Kolbe, etc., have been outed. Just like Raymond Burr, Reginald VelJohnson, Jody Foster, and a number of other celebrities.

JQ, My money's with Erik on this one, as I think the post-DeLay GOP will be. Minnesotans show remarkable good sense in their voting, even if they lean a little too Scandi-left at times, but hey, Northern European cultures are worth preserving too, especially when they produce so much of the world's grain.

And don't be so Texas-centrist: it's Kowtow, from the Chinese, NOT from Cattle Country! Maybe what y'all are eatin' down there makes ya elect guys like DeLay!* wink
_____
*But what in Arkansas' cuisine produced Bill Clinton I'll never know!

Chinese doesn't use Latin letters to indicate pronunciation. Transliteration covers a multitude of sins. I know this as a reader, writer and speaker of another language that does not use the Latin alphabet, Hebrew. wink

He outed himself, sua sponte (is that the correct use of the Latin, gm?).

Same thing that produced me, gm. Born and raised in Arkansas and proud of it. I'm sure, in your mind, that explains a lot to you about why i am the way i am. What's your excuse?

<small>[ April 14, 2005, 03:16 PM: Message edited by: KeyWest Guy ]</small>

Dude, I'm talking spelling, not diction. I only capitalized the "K" to point out your rather funny error, not to indicate how it's pronounced. BTW, I checked to see if kowtow might be spelled with a "c," but it's not and the next word following where it might have been is ... cowtown!

Yes, KWG, your law Latin is correct. As for our respective backgrounds, "no apologies, no regrets!" wink

[ April 14, 2005, 03:20 PM: Message edited by: gmginsfo ]

The word on the street in the Brainerd area is pretty sad actually. This is where the gay Republican in question is from. The area is really conservative and somewhat intolerant. A lot of suedo-Republicans of the "W" strain are really upset that the guy didn't come out before the election. Otherwise they would not have voted for him. So you definitely see a singular voting issue and contradictory behavior. The area he represents has a rich class and a poor class with a precious few middle class in between. There are a lot of service and resorts jobs titillating the wealthy. The average level of education is not that high in the area. So that is why the area usually votes Republican. Meth use is high. Most of the population doesn't vote either. My sister as a teacher there was actually told by wealthy parents that it is her job to babysit their kids. Other times the kids education wasn't a priority over vacation homes, boats and other immediate gratifications for the parents. These folks are truly warped. The guy had to be a Republican to get elected in the first place.

The guy needs to change parties and make it known that the Republican party now cares more about your sexuality than your performance as a politician. He needs to explain how the Republican Party hasn't been the Republican party for some time and it isn't going to revert. That religious intolerance is not a Republican platform neither is fiscal irresponsibility and creating debt. The guy could work it and be a better person for it. He also needs to point out the other major gay players in the Republican team.
All I say is, "I don't give a shit if he is gay or not. I just care if he raises my taxes and cuts services. It is more important if he slaughters troops in a self-serving oil war!" Works every time.

Just spent two weeks with him on our Atlantis Cruise. I was very impressed with him. We all agreed not to agree politically, and had a lot of fun touring Europe together. He has a very interesting story to tell.

Geez, I saw the ship and even knew about the gay cruise. We paced each other a short way coming out of Crete on the 4th? /5th? as I was coming from Rhodes headed for Zakynthos and Corfu.

I spent two weeks in mid Aug on Naxos then, when Ian had to leave, we just paddled around the Aegean.

I am on the Croatian coast now headed for Florence and Venice, then I am taking my bike and heading for Austria - Hungary - Romania - Bulgaria - and then Turkey to pick up the boat again the first week in October.

Hope you had a great time!

R

What ship were you on? I noticed a couple of other ships while we were in Mykonos and Crete....

I was on the small blue hulled converted trawler you bounced around in your wake...

My boat is called the "Synchronicity", and she is a converted trawler (She was originally 84', but we added on 12' to the aft deck and dive platform during the conversion: 96'Lloyds)

She has a dark blue hull, and white superstructure. She is US Flagged.

I seriously bounced in your wake - I was playing with my Jet Ski! You guys weere moving pretty fast at that point though.

You were on the RC "Brillance of the Seas" right?

R

[ September 11, 2005, 04:34 PM: Message edited by: ITJock ]

Yea, I was. I always wondered what other ships must have thought at night with the disco lights on the pool deck...all the lasers must have made other ships think we were sinking or something!

How did you like the cruise? Did you guys have the entire boat?

It is a pretty good sized ship for the Med! (I think we have spotted that ship once before, near Spain)) Most of the cruise ships here tend to be much smaller than the ones in the Bahamas or Mexico.

I have never been on one of the Atlantis vacations, but have often thought of trying one.

Rob

We had the entire ship. Although I was a little iffy on going on a gay cruise, we had an amazing time! We met people from all over. If you like to party, that element is there. If you don't, it's fine, too. We would go to the nightly parties for an hour or two, but I guess they went on until the wee hours of the morning. The entertainment was also great, as were the ports of call.
We would definately do another one...

After talking to some more locals, the media is soooo right, even in Minnesota. A lot of people know he is gay and voted for him anyway. His opposition wasn't too impressive. A lot of people will vote for him if he doesn't do any anti-gay voting. If he does he is just another contradictory politician, like the used car salesmen Pawlenty and Coleman.

Basically I see Koering as doing damage control. Some one was removing the hinges on his closet door. He thought he would open it first. Imagine if he would have continued voting anti-gay and been outed. Neither side would vote for him as he was caught in some ugly self-loathing denial.

It is heart warming to know he can go on a "gay" cruise when 33% of Minnesotans make $10 an hour or less. Due to the Republican parties unfundated mandates and HUGE war debt, most folks here cannot afford such luxuries.

Please spare me your victim act.....

Did he use tax dollars to pay for the cruise? If not, he's entitled to do what he wants with his money. If people don't like his performance in office, they should vote him out.