SALON

Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 5:28 PM UTC

Lawmaker poised to be first-ever GOP co-sponsor of marriage equality bill

Minnesota state Sen. Branden Petersen says he wants to do "the right thing" and "let the chips fall where they may"

By

Topics: Same-sex marriage, Gay Marriage, Marriage equality, Defense of Marriage Act, , ,

Lawmaker poised to be first-ever GOP co-sponsor of marriage equality bill

Marriage equality in Minnesota just got a bump from an unexpected source: Republican state Sen. Branden Petersen is poised to break with his party and co-sponsor a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.

He would be the first-ever Republican lawmaker to co-sponsor a gay marriage bill.

The move is a big turnaround for Petersen, who in 2011 was one of 69 Republican legislators to vote in favor of a constitutional ballot amendment banning same-sex marriage in the state. Voters defeated the measure in November 2012, and today Petersen is singing a very different tune. “At this point, I am concerned about doing the right thing,” Petersen told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “I have a certain amount of peace about that, and I will let the chips fall where they may.”

But the chips may fall someplace messy, according to election data. As was recently reported by the Associated Press, in the eight times nationwide that state legislatures voted on gay marriage, just 47 Republicans broke with their party to support the measure.

Of those 47 Republicans, only 21 are in office today.

It’s an uphill battle at the state level, too. The Minnesota Legislature has an incredibly narrow Democratic majority, some of whom are planning to cross the aisle and vote against any measure to legalize gay marriage.

Like Sen. LeRoy Stumpf, a member of the state’s Democratic Farm Labor Party and the only Democrat to vote in favor of putting the failed marriage amendment on the 2012 ballot. “I feel strongly in my beliefs that it is not something I would support. It’s a sacrament in our church. I’m Catholic,” he told the Tribune.

Petersen suggests that his Senate colleagues who plan to oppose the measure are going to be left behind in a country that increasingly supports marriage for gay and lesbian couples. “It’s only a matter of time before same-sex marriage is legal,” Petersen said. “I thought it was important to engage the issue now, and when we do it, do it right, and that there’s some perspective from the people I represent in that.”

And he’s right. That data speaks for itself: A bipartisan majority of Americans now believes that — regardless of how they feel about the issue — gay marriage will be legal nationally in the next five to 10 years.

But the issue is also personal for Petersen, whose father has been in a same-sex relationship for 20 years, a fact that has divided his family in the same way he sees it dividing his state.

He’s ready for the fallout, he says, even if his co-sponsorship costs him his Senate seat, telling the Tribune:

“They are generally not single-issue voters,” he said. “But if push came to shove and that’s the way it had to be, then I am fine with that.”

Katie McDonough is an assistant editor for Salon, focusing on lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@salon.com. More Katie Mcdonough.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 5 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations