If there’s one Republican that we love, it’s Paul Koering: the Senator from Minnesota who came out after voting against the gay marriage ban.
Sure, he may not support abortion, likes guns, and runs with a pretty awful crowd, but we can’t shake the feeling that he’s a genuinely nice guy. (Plus, we must admit: we think he’s kind of cute. Don’t you just want to squeeze those cheeks?)
Though a few of his conservative constituents turned away after his unceremonious outing, Koering still managed to win last month’s primary by a whopping ten points. While no one can say for sure if he’ll do the same next month, we’re definitely cheering him on.
Thus, we were pretty excited to read his interview with Will Doig over at the saucy website, Nerve. In it Koering chats about coming out, growing up, and, of course, Mark Foley:
How about we take this to the next level?
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WD: Why do you think Foley was so careless as to leave a paper trail of emails and instant messages? To me, it’s like the criminal who subconsciously wants to get caught leaving clues.
PK: It appears the man was on a mission to self-destruct. I don’t know the man, but in watching some of the news accounts and watching Donald Trump on Larry King, Donald Trump said that down in Foley’s district it was no secret.
WD: Which parallels your experience of having your sexuality be an open secret among your colleagues, though obviously your coming out has been handled much more elegantly.
PK: But I think there’s a big difference. His going after sixteen year olds is totally inappropriate. It makes people think that all gay people are pedophiles. That’s why I’m disgusted by it. It lumps us all together and that’s just bullshit. That’s what really pissed me off. It’s taken years to build up a positive image and have people realize that I’m not pushing some gay agenda, that I’m just working for my constituents.
We love when politicians curse, don’t you? Especially when said curse works to discredit homophobes.
When Koering’s not playing the politics game, he works as, among other things, a dairy farmer. And, apparently, it’s not the best career for picking up tricks: “…As soon as you tell someone you’re milking cows, they run the other way.” We’re sorry, but we have to imagine that a dairy farmer gives a pretty rocking hand-job. (Shit, did we just theorize that a Republican gives a good hand-job? We never thought we’d see the day…)
Head over to Nerve, read the interview and let us know what you think. Judging from our last post on our last post on Koering, we know you’ve got an opinion, so let us hear it!
anonymous
Am I the only one grossed out by this endorsement? I don’t see how you can put as trivializing a word as “but” after saying “sure he’s anti-choice and loves guns…”
anonymous
This story is completely inaccurate. Koering did not vote against the marriage ban. He voted to not force a vote on an issue that had not made it out of the state senate committee. He upheld the rules of the senate. The vote was brought to the floor by Michele Bachman, her personal protest against the thousands of glbt and allies attending “Just Fair Lobby Day,” organized by OutFrontMN. When Koering’s constituents met with him that day, he said that his vote was a moment of weakness. This vote took place in 2005. When the same issue came up in 2006 he changed his votes. Voting against the glbt community. He has said on many occasions that when if the amendment ever makes it to the floor he will vote in favor of amendment, an amendments whose language may actually void all contracts between any two people of the same sex (i.e. wills, estates, health directives and more.)
Scott
I love this guy. This is the only Republican I would save from the guillotine.