Advertisement

Targeted local ads for local businesses. Click here.

Latest News:

Filed: Monday, March 11, 2013

Minnesota.USA

Minnesota lawmaker’s ‘gay lifestyle’ aside stuns peers

Submit to redditSubmit to StumbleUponDigg ThisPin it on PinterestShare on LinkedInShare on Tumblr+1Share on TwitterShare on Facebook

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota lawmaker opposed to same-sex marriage has caused another stir with comments some regarded as inflammatory.

Glenn Gruenhagen

Republican Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen of Glencoe rose Monday on the House floor to introduce a friend whom he said was “active in the gay lifestyle for 10 years” before leaving it to marry a woman and start a family.

The aside came during a routine announcement period.

House Speaker Paul Thissen says he will no longer let members recognize friends, family or groups during session. Majority Leader Erin Murphy says members can give their point of view in debate but says Gruenhagen abused the platform.

Two weeks ago, Gruenhagen spoke against the marriage proposal by loudly proclaiming “there is no gay gene.”

House Republican Leader Kurt Daudt called Gruenhagen’s latest comments inappropriate.

Legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in Minnesota has House and Senate committee hearings Tuesday.

© 2013, Associated Press, All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Connect with LGBTQ Nation.
The Nation's most followed LGBTQ news magazine.

Tags: Ex-gay, Glenn Gruenhagen, Marriage Equality, Minnesota

Filed under: Minnesota

Advertisement

Share and Comment:

47 more reader comments:

  1. u go boy

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 3:03pm
  2. Close minded arrogant bigot.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 3:05pm
  3. He looks tres GAY…

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 3:09pm
  4. I don’t see what difference it makes even if being gay were a choice ..what business is it of the government to regulate adult relationships

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 3:13pm
  5. these people really need to get over it . guess what we are gay no amount of prayer to your fantasy dude on a cross changed me when i was forced into christianity as a child and it wont change anyone else. and it is not a lifestyle I was born a pole smoking fruit and im sure he is too..

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 3:16pm
  6. Religion is a choice!

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 3:17pm
  7. Human rights has nothing to do with whether or not the gay gene exists, but about our rights as humans to love anyone we want.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 3:19pm
  8. Just wait… Methinks thou doth protest too much~

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 3:23pm
  9. imagine how many people we could bring in who were once married and who are now not and homosexuals..

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 3:27pm
  10. He’s still sneaking out to the back 40 taking one for the team!

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 3:56pm
  11. but he definitely has the idiot gene

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 6:42pm
  12. discusting!

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:24pm
  13. OY!

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:24pm
  14. More like his “on the side” lover.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:25pm
  15. Why give people like this any attention? We all know they’re full of shit.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:26pm
  16. He probably wasn’t even truly gay to begin with… This just doesn’t happen…

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:26pm
  17. This does not mean he isn’t still gay. He may just be conforming to social norms.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:26pm
  18. And just what research/study did he do to back up his bigotry?

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:27pm
  19. maybe his friend is bi, or pansexual… of course, this ignorant asshat probably has never heard of those terms.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:28pm
  20. hes probably another self hating gay man who wants to pretend so people will like him more . i did it for years even got engaged when i was a church boy. but i grew out of that fantasy real quick.. this man is worthless and he doesnt deserve his picture to even be up there

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:28pm
  21. i call bullshit. hes just a coward. we were BORN this way.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:28pm
  22. All he did was go back into the closet, lol. Marrying a woman won’t make his attraction to men go away.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:28pm
  23. The self-loathing kind?

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:30pm
  24. Such BS.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:30pm
  25. It’s called denial or Bi-Curiosity… -.- No one just “Becomes Gay” or “Becomes Straight”… >.>

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:32pm
  26. Hmm I could of brought 3 women 2 (exs) who were married to men, one of them had kids…so thanks for bringing your one convert..I will never be able to do that I was born this way

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:35pm
  27. Major Denial. Can’t stand these type of people. Can’t believe in this day and age, lawmakers are still so stupid, and ignorant.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:36pm
  28. I have door knocked against this man in the past. I saw the lit he used to leave at the doors. It was fire and brimstone stuff about gays.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:36pm
  29. Oh, because this random friend represents us all. Prick.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:37pm
  30. It’s always the sad, sad stories of once-happy/almost-happy people who r just becoming comfortable
    in their own skin, yet for some reason jump out of it, so to speak, &return to the lies that are ‘acceptable’ a.k.a. the stories of the ‘Ex-Gay’ people that make me so sad…. </3

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:39pm
  31. Ex gay? Nope bi sexual or a big fat lier.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:48pm
  32. I am not sure what the boundaries or perimeters are exactly that classify someone as gay or straight. Perhaps the gentleman did change his sexual preference, perhaps not. The important thing is that the choice to marry should belong to all people, gay or straight or whatever in between.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 9:59pm
  33. Also, this congressman has a very poor understanding of epigenetics.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 10:00pm
  34. :(

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 10:18pm
  35. Lifestyle…

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 10:18pm
  36. I don’t get the whole “lifestyle” crap. Parking your P, whatever it may be, is not a “lifestyle.” It’s an act. Just because a person has a sexual encounter, or multiple encounters, with someone of the same sex, DOESN’T MAKE THEM GAY, anymore than a gay man who made love to three girls in high school is straight. One’s sexuality is not defined merely by sexual encounters. ENCOUNTERS are choices. Sexuality is not.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 10:19pm
  37. Being gay is not lifestyle. It is just a part of a persons life.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 10:21pm
  38. A “lifestyle” is do you like to live in the suburbs, the city in a tent,
    do you play golf and or tennis, is your hobby knitting, or running, do you like to travel or sit on the couch…..? We could go on, but
    puleeeeze!

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 10:25pm
  39. I’m from Minnesota he’s a republican nut still stuck in 1985 on gay issues!

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 10:57pm
  40. I dont understand why someones sexual preference keeps being a part of so many introductions. Who cares? Im dont see many like “this is Mary, she’s hetero;

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 11:07pm
  41. mean while he and his ex gay friend are doin the dirty dirty when no one is looking

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 11:09pm
  42. Idk Born gay is true, but in animals scientists can make animals homosexual prior to them being born. Therefore it IS possible to while a human embryo is being developed to inject hormones to prevent the causation of being gay IF we followed that train of thought.

    But individuals can have them try to help prior to the embryo growing if it had heart problems, to rearrange and fix it, same as problems in the genes such as a disease or even Autism and other birth situations…

    I could see it useful to help those but the line needs drawn at orientation and gender identity…

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 11:38pm
  43. My home town is in his Senate District and half my family lives there, I know who I will be telling them to vote against

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 11:46pm
  44. Well Why bother Minnesota Opposed a similar Cali PROP 8 bill that bans gay marriage… except instead of Cali where voters banned it, Minnesota Voters killed the bill .

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 11:52pm
  45. These are the types of Gay people I disdain. They think they have all the answers about Gay life and sexuality and everyone should follow suit. The way I look at it these people can take their issues of unhappiness and denial to a PROFESSIONAL SHRINK who are trained and paid extremely well to listen to this crap and nonsense.

    Posted on Monday, March 11, 2013 at 11:54pm
  46. And I left the Christian lifestyle to be happy and get a girlfriend. What about it?

    Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2013 at 12:49am
  47. Just a matter of time before he succumbs again to the “lifestyle”. Those people never resist long…

    Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2013 at 5:02am
        News Tips / Contact Us Join our Mailing List
Receive our nightly report of all the day's news.
 
Thank you. Please check your email now to confirm your subscription, and please be sure to add [email protected] to your safe senders list.
 
Thank you! Your message has been sent.