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[rawstory]

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

SECOND EDITION: STORY DEVELOPING
Minnesota state senator comes out, endorses 'outing' anti- gay politicians

By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor

A Minnesota state senator who bucked his party in voting against a measure to that would bring an amendment to the state’s constitution to prohibit gay marriage to the full Senate has revealed that he is gay, RAW STORY has learned.
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The senator, Republican Paul Koering, has also endorsed efforts to expose gay politicians who wield their power to oppose gay rights.

Koering, 40, 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.

Koering also spoke at length with Mike Rogers, whose blogACTIVE.com website has reporting on the private gay lives of prominent anti-gay politicians, who he says helped him in his process of coming out. Rogers is also the editor of an editorially independent franchise site of Raw Story Media, RawStoryQ.

Since the vote, Koering says he’s been besieged by calls and emails from people wanting to know his orientation.