ST. PAUL, Minn. — A former Minnesota state lawmaker on Tuesday said she has always regretted her vote for a constitutional amendment that would have limited marriage to one man and one woman.
Lynn Osterman, of New Hope, was a Republican when she served her only term in the Minnesota House. She choked up as she testified Tuesday before a House committee hearing a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Minnesota, saying she cast a “politically expedient” vote for an amendment to bay gay marriage when one reached the House floor in 2004.
Osterman told the representatives voting no on this bill might seem politically expedient now, but they’d have to live with the knowledge that their vote wasn’t fair, respectful or equal. She says she blew her vote, and implored them to get this one right.
Watch:
The Minnesota state legislature on Tuesday began formal consideration of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. Votes in House and Senate committees were expected later in the day, but final legislative action could still be months away as lawmakers deal with the state budget first.
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Yet another former politician who has suddenly discovered their spine.
should have regretted before your vote. dumbass.
another one who wants to get on the publicity bandwagon
Thanks for nuthin, beyotch.
Miss, your legacy will be that you voted to deny rights to a specific group of people..When people look back on this time 50 yrs from now..you will be equated to the people who also thought blacks shouldnt marry whites, Nice legacy…NOT
That’s great Ma’am. When gay partners are denied hospital visitation when their partners are dying, I’m sure they will be comforted by your regret.
Too late now. You will have to live with your hurtful and shameful decision forever, Queen B!
People can have a genuine change of heart, and she appears to be trying to right her wrong. As you’ll recall, neither Obama nor Biden supported same sex marriage when campaigning in ’08. If we can forgive Obama and Biden, we can forgive this woman.
Well said, Jeffery.
What is everyone’s problem? She knows what she did was wrong, and is trying to do better. Get off her back, everyone makes mistakes. If you approach hate with hate, nothing good will come of it, so just appreciate the fact that she is trying to do better and help the campaign.
The tides they are a changing…..
At what point do we begin to heal. If one person can admit that they did wrong by us, then more are sure to follow. I personally would rather not live in a perpetual state of bitter and rip this woman apart for what she did in the past.
slowly getting better!
Wake up sooner!
It’s nice that she is full of regret, but that doesn’t take back all the pain she helped cause in others lives. I don’t remember forgiving Obama & Biden for their bigotry, either.
Not everyone can forgive on the same schedule or in the same time frame. It takes some people a lot longer to process their emotions than other people. It’s bullshit to expect people who have been deeply hurt by the actions of others to just be able to move on when the cause of their pain is still there. THEY STILL DON’T HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS.
It will be a lot easier for people to forgive and move on once they DO have equal rights. Until that actually happens, it’s bullshit to denigrate those people for their emotions.