Paul Koering
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Paul Koering (born 1965) is a Republican Minnesota state senator from the rural area of Fort Ripley, near Brainerd. He is a liquor store owner and small farmer, and belongs to the Roman Catholic church. He was first elected in 2002, defeating DFLer Don Samuelson, who had been the Senate president.
Koering's positions tend to be conservative, including opposition to tax increases, opposition to abortion, support for tougher criminal sentences, and support for broad gun rights, including support for a general right to carry a concealed firearm.
In a notable exception to his conservatism, he has sided with state Senate DFLers in opposing restrictions on gay rights. Koering is believed to be the first openly gay Republican elected official in Minnesota.
Koering effectively 'outed' himself by breaking from the Republican Party line on a procedural vote in the Minnesota Senate. The pivotal moment came on April 7, 2005 when Minnesota State Senator Michelle Bachmann, the most opportunistic of the Senate's hard-right Christian clique, used procedural tactics to that would have forced a vote on her constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Minnesota.
April 7, 2005 also happened to coincide with the Gay & Lesbian Day at the Capitol, as well as the two-year anniversary of Koering's mother's death.
