First-term state Rep. Joe Radinovich, a DFLer from Crosby, plans to vote yes on gay marriage, even though his district strongly supported the gay marriage ban that failed in last November's election.
Radinovich told the Brainerd Dispatch that even though 62.5 percent of the voters in his district supported the gay marriage ban, he's in favor of equal rights for gay men and women.
Radinovich, 27, won his election last year by 323 votes.
He told the paper:
"It would be politically expedient to vote the way the district feels about this. Doing the right thing isn’t always popular.
“I think as a representative I have a responsibility to not just represent the majority but to represent people in the minority. We also have gay men and women that live in our community, that grew up in our community and they deserve to have equal rights."
He said polls show 70 percent of people under the age of 35 support gay marriage. "For people of my generation, this isn’t a big deal ... At the end of the day I have to live with the decision I make."
A House committee is scheduled to hear the gay marriage bill today.