Minnesota State Rep. John Kriesel is on
board with the effort to defeat a gay marriage ban at the 2012 ballot
box.
Kriesel on Thursday confirmed to
Politics
in Minnesota that he is serving on the steering committee of
Minnesotans United for All Families, the coalition working to defeat
a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a
heterosexual union.
“I plan on being actively involved as
much as I possibly can,” Kriesel told the publication.
During the debate in the House on
whether to send the amendment to voters, Kriesel told colleagues that
a near death experience while serving in Iraq changed his mind on the
issue.
“It woke me up. It changed me,”
Kriesel said. “Because of that, it's made me think about this
issue. And say, 'You know what, what would I do without my wife?'
She makes me happy. Life is hard. We're in a really tough time in
our history. Happiness is so, so hard to find for people. So they
find it, they find someone that makes them happy, and we want to take
that person away. We want to say, 'Oh no, you can be together, you
can love that person, but you can't marry them.' You can't marry
them. That's wrong.”
On Friday, the Star-Tribune
reported that Richard Carlbom was leaving his post as spokesman for
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman to lead Minnesotans United for All
Families.
“We are going to get to know each
other over the next few weeks and months – and share a common
experience like none other,” Carlbom, 30, wrote in his announcement
on Facebook.