Updated
Minnesota Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen caused an outcry on the House floor on Monday when he introduced a visiting friend who had exited the "gay lifestyle."
"He was active in the gay lifestyle for about ten years, and then he left it, got married and he now has three children," Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, said.
Soon after he made the comment, the House shut down the sound from the floor session, which was near its conclusion. According to members who were on the floor at the time, some members were visibly outraged.
"It was a completely inappropriate statement to make on the House floor," House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, said later. "I also think the content of his statement at that point in time in this legislative session was inappropriate in itself."
He said he personally found the statement offensive.
Thissen also said that House members have used too much latitude in making end-of-floor-session's "points of personal privilege" and asked them to rein those in. Republican and Democratic lawmakers said they approved of that Thissen instruction.
House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, said: "Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen's comments today on the floor were inappropriate and it was not the proper use of a point of personal privilege."
