Talk politics for any length of time with Rochester area businessman Chris Holloway, a transplant from the Show Me State, and it's clear the Missouri native's no Republican in Name Only, but a principled conservative who favors small government and individual liberty.
He's worked to elect conservative Republicans in both states. He just finished a round of service on the Olmsted County Republican Executive Board. He co-chaired the BPOU's finance committee with 2008 Republican congressional candidate Brian Davis.
Holloway's hustling to put his belief in the marketplace into action, raising funds for his new venture, Rochester Press Coffee and Tea Lounge, via a Kickstarter campaign.
He also spent the last year or so working to defeat the amendment to restrict the freedom to marry in 2012, then pitching in to help pass the Clark/Dibble bill to extend marriage equality to all committed couples.
The Minnesota House passed its version of the bill in a bipartisan vote on Thursday, and the state senate will take up the bill shortly after it convenes today at noon. Governor Mark Dayton has pledged to sign the bill into law. While the bill has the votes to win in the DFL majority, marriage equality supporters are still wooing Republican senators.
"All Minnesotans should have the same rights and freedoms," Holloway says. "I have friends who wish to marry. Straight allies across the state want marriage equality. It's obviously important to a lot of Minnesotans."
Holloway hopes to one day marry his partner of six years, though he's clear on the distinction between civil and religious marriage. "I'm a life-long Catholic," he said, "I strongly believe in religious freedom and the right of churches and other faith communities to decide who they will marry and who they will not."
In fact, Holloway voted for a 2004 amendment to the Missouri state constitution to restrict the right to marry to one man and one woman. "It's been hard to explain my vote to people in the Minnesota campaign, but I felt that without the amendment, I there was no protection for freedom of religion, the religious component of marriage.'
"The [Missouri] campaign against the amendment didn't do a very good job explaining this," he said, observing that Minnesotans United--and legislation it supports--has stressed the exemptions that guarantee religious freedom.
'In fact, last year's amendment would have written religious restrictions by the state into the constitution," he said. "There are churches that want to be able to marry committed couples regardless of identity.'
Holloway wants his own state senator, Carla Nelson, and the Rochester area's other Republican senator, former Majority Leader Dave Senjem, to vote yes today.
First, the bill supports Republican values that put individual liberty above government control. 'As Republicans," he said, "we talk about smaller government, staying out of people’s lives. When I weigh positives of this bill against negatives, it's a pretty clear choice. Carla [Nelson] should vote yes."
Second, the consequences of the bill will be good for Minnesota. 'It’s only going to positively affect Minnesotans," Holloway said. "It’s pretty simple."
'It's good for children. It’s going to positively affect the children of same-sex couples. The children will receive the legal protections of marriage. Having married parents will help them be more accepted as they grow older.'
'When I look to other states where same-sex marriage is legal," Holloway continued, 'I’ve seen nothing negative."
Were Senator Nelson and Senjem to vote yes, they would be a validating Republican principles.
"Ultimately, individual freedom is a Republican ideal,' Holloway said, "and at the end of the day I would hope more Republican legislators would be able to see that."
Screenshot: Chris Holloway, screenshot from a KAAL-TV story, Rochester a Key City in Marriage Amendment.
This original story is underwritten by a sponsorship by Minnesotans United for All Families.
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