12koeringState Sen. Paul Koering took a lot of flack from marriage equality advocates and progressive bloggers in recent weeks because he says he won’t vote for a bill to extend marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples. In an interview with CNN last weekend, Koering explained his position in greater depth.

“Just because I’m gay that doesn’t mean I have to be for gay marriage,” he said. Koering and openly gay state Sen. Scott Dibble, a Minneapolis DFLer who says he will vote for marriage equality, sat down with CNN to discuss their differences.