What exactly is your point? You met the Queen; told her how you felt; was laughed at by her minions.

Don't feel too bad. I once had a similar experience with Richard Nixon in D.C. when he was still Vice-President.

• Wes

BTW: The Veep would go on to lose to JFK later that year, so there is still hope.

"Speaker Minnis, you said something in the Oregonian about concentrating on policy instead of just on dollars. Would you care to share with the rest of us what that policy debate would be, or is that only a discussion for a small group of people in a closed room?"

I am helping a challenger who is making a big deal about the need for more open public debate. What Bob Schieffer said this weekend about Chavez and the Iran President, "in democracy we do things out in the open" would suggest to me that the 2005 House was not a democracy.

Gee, aren't we melodramatic?

Did you stop and talk to 57% of the people you ran across that day and have the same conversation with them? After all, that is the percentage who voted for the initiative disallowing same sex marraige.

You act as if it a crime against humanity that Karen Minnis is in the majority on this issue.

Way to go, Karol.

Am I the only one who thinks the people who laughed are rude? Seriously. I don't care what your political persuasion is. If I were sitting with a politician (as a friend or whatever) and somone approached, as Karol had, and shared something, I think laughter is an absolutely inappropriate, immature, and rude response.

I would have asked her if ahe was, in any way, related to Hitler.

Hmmm, I don't know what you expected from that encounter. First, you say you were "unsatisfied" with the response from the barista, an employee who isn't allowed to discriminate against his customers. Then, you impose yourself into her circle of friends and openly criticize her. I'd say you received very mild and civil responses from both parties. You may wish to rethink your public behavior.

I’d be interested in knowing how you would have approached the Multnomah County commissioners involved in this issue and what you would have said to them.

After all it was they who exceeded their authority in originally issuing gay marriage licenses after secretly colluding with Basic Rights Oregon’s Roey Thorpe.

Their actions precipitated the anti-gay marriage backlash among Oregon voters and set the movement back by decades, while Ms. Thorpe has moved on to greener pastures.

Think they deserve a “well done”?

Way to go Karol! You were not rude. You were brave.

Hear hear! Speak up and tell 'em what you think. Last night I went througha similar sort of experience, albeit on a much lower scale. I told the principal of my school exactly what I thought of our math cirriculum. It may seem trivial, but wait till you see the facts.

Some people enjoy confrontation; some of us have to be driven to it by desperation. I think it took courage for Karol to speak up, and as far as I can tell both she and Minnis acted appropriately.

Can we now say that Karen Minnis is a late sipping Portland elitist?

Not really, Anon. I would say a born again Nazi

You no doubt brought up a very sore subject in front of Minnis sitting among her friends. The way that Basic Rights Oregon handled themselves in attempting to get the Civil Unions legislation passed was criticized by many, including our greatest supporters:

"Some of Basic Rights Oregon's legislative tactics weren't particularly effective," said Brown, who described the personal attacks on Minnis as "deplorable." (The Oregonian, 9/11/2005)

So we shouldn't necessarily be surprised if we find a cold reaction to any mention of the topic, no matter how heartfelt.

Nice work Karol!

Karen is a publlic figure and as Speaker of the House she has influence over much more than just her own district. She has an obligation to hear from Oregonians everywhere.

To Buckman Res and Sasha, just because most people support bigotry doesn't make it right. Lincoln probably exceeded his authority with the Emancipation Proclaimation but is was the morally correct thing to do.

Minnis never seems to pass on an opportunity to sacrifice Oregon and Oregon values in an effort to promote her partisan agenda, so if she is forced to hear about how her mean-spirited efforts have hurt real Oregonians, then she'd better accept it or get out of public service.

Wow. I think those of you who are questioning Karol's intentions or expectations aren't being fair.

If you have an opinion about an issue, and then you see a person who has direct influence over that issue sitting outside a Starbucks, why not share your opinion--whether you agree or disagree with the decision-maker's stance?

Minnis is our employee, not some kind of royalty. It was outrageous that her entourage laughed at Karol, and shameful that Minnis didn't tell them to shut up.

I wasn't rude to Minnis, that was never my intention. It's not appropriate or effective in public discourse. She is a public figure, so I assume she expects opinions from a variety or folks.

It is part of a democracy that any citizen can walk up to any elected official and start a conversation. 3 cheers to every person who does that. A friend took her kids out to dinner after a movie in Jan. 1996 and the Gordon Smith family were at the same restaurant. The way he handled interruptions from people walking over to his table made her an advocate for his election to the US Senate, "they kept interrupting his meal with his family, but he was amazingly polite to everyone who spoke to him". There are all sorts of ways of winning/ losing support.

" told Speaker Minnis my name, I told her that her prevention of the bill to grant equality to gay and lesbians hurt a lot of people that I love and care about. I asked her to re-think her actions and do better for Oregon the next time if she was re-elected. " is not rude.

"HI! I'm campaigning for Brading and hope you lose" would have been rude.

Sasha, just because the gay marriage ban passed doesn't mean that the majority of Oregonians are against civil unions being debated in the Oregon House. Check out what Measure 36 supporters said about civil unions 2 years ago in the campaign.

Buckman, if you were to encounter the female Mult. Comm. (the ones who excluded Lonnie Roberts from the discussion) in a similar situation, would you go up to them and say "you totally mismanaged the whole gay marriage thing and I am still angry about that"?

Or would you tell them they were stupid to have shut Lonnie Roberts out of the deliberations behind closed doors?

Minnis is our employee, not some kind of royalty. It was outrageous that her entourage laughed at Karol, and shameful that Minnis didn't tell them to shut up.

SJ is right. I once walked up to a candidate at an advertised campaign appearance and asked "your staffer told me on the phone that you oppose this bill...why?". The candidate said nothing. His 2 staffers made angry remarks. I've been telling that story for years, and would never vote for that person (or either of the staffers) unless they explained why that wasn't a counterproductive encounter by a campaign trying to earn votes.

It's a good thing what you did Karol - when we don't agree with our leaders we need to feel that we can speak up (without being laughed at or otherwise humiliated!) It was incredbily brave; something that those who have their civil rights can't possibly understand. You weren't calling Karen Minnis on some mundane piece of legislation, you stood up to her direct impediment to your being treated every bit as equal as she is herself.

Regardless of her reaction, she heard you - and that's the important part.

Jeff A. says, "She [K.M.] has, more than anyone else in Oregon, aped the national GOP and it's politics of division."

That's right on the money. My observation is that Republican office-holders don't view Democrats in their districts as constituents so much as enemies. Sample the rhetoric of Bush & the Republican media poodles he dotes on if you disagree.

The laughs from Minnis's companions say it all: You aren't one of us, so you don't matter.

I think that you did the right thing. Those that condem such "public" behavoir shouldn't run for "public" office. If Minnis dared show her face in my neighborhood, I'd be happy to tell her off. Frankly, she is a manipulative self-servicing witch. If you put yourself out there, then you open yourself up. If Minnis wants a "private" life, she can retire from office. Until then... she's game to the airing of grievances over her selfishness.

And if any CONs on here don't like it, I'd be happy to tell you off to. ;)

I am really surprised at the reaction from some of these posters! How in the world could it be considered a negative thing for a citizen to engage in dailogue with an elected? In the case of Minnis, she's the speaker of the house so it doesn't matter if Karol lives in her district, every citizen of Oregon has the right to tell her exactly what we think of her "agenda." I know I wouldn't have had the guts to do what Karol did, I know I would have kicked myself later and thought of all the great things I could have said to her face. I find it ironic that some folks are bashing Karol for talking approaching her face to face as they sit on their computers and post, probably under assumed names. Just the thought of her sitting there (ha! latte sipping elitist, now that's rich!) with her horrible group of haters, laughing? Nice example to you constituency Karen. You latte sipping elitist!

They were probably laughing because they were embarrassed and didn't know how else to handle the situation. That, or they're a-hole right wingers who care about nothing but themselves. Yeah, I think I'll stick with B. Way to go Karol! Pete brings up a great point - maybe those blank stare latte sipper's will get online, get informed and get involved! Hopefully, at the very least they will vote.

Good for you Karol. And shame on Minnis' peanut gallery.

b*kurth: while emotions ran strong in the Capitol, citing that small quote from Sen. Brown is but a tiny corner of the picture. The so-called "Family Council" distributed disgusting and hateful literature around Capitol building...and even stooped so low as to start verbally attacking staff members and distributing hit pieces throughout the building.

Some of the immature name-calling from "our" side came nowhere near the level of reproach spewing from the likes of Tootie Smith & the "family council".

I wouldn't have been nasty, and I would have given her my business card, but I would have congratulated her on how she helped to remove the democracy from our state house, and that when history looks back she will be the George Wallace of Oregon.

The GLBT people that I know are families, and this rotten, fear based bigotry is really hurting people. My friend had to wait outside the emergency room while her daughter was being treated, and wasn't allowed in ICU during her daughter's cancer treatments. All so this woman could have her divisive political issue.

Politics is not always polite. And Karen Minnis, well she works for me.

I'm sorry but this sounds fairly farfetched. I can believe that the barista had no reaction; after all, a total stranger comes up to you in your place of business and hits you with a political issue which you may or may not have ANY knowledge of whatsoever and expects what? A hearty "Damn right!" or maybe "Are you kidding? I didn't know that was her?". I would say that Karol is lucky that the barista didn't say "Really? I want to shake her hand and say thanks for standing up for the voters." I applaud Karol's courage - not many people are comfortable talking to strangers at a party let alone approaching someone you have never met and letting them know that you disagree with what they do for a living and how they represent their employer, the voters. What sounds farfetched to me is that the people sitting at the table laughed at Karol. Had this story stuck to the facts, it would have been a nothing story: Woman disagrees with Politician, speaks her mind, gets a nice, non-committal response and then walks away, end of story. Instead, Karol embellishes the tale with laughter from Karen's tablemates and her own reaction to get more mileage out of the story. It's too bad that people have to lie about these things to try to discredit someone else. Dems already hate Karen, why lie to make it seem worse?

How does this seem so farfetched, that Minnis' Minions laughed at Karol? We see this kind of behavior every day from our own President- laughing at and making fun of the press corps, particularly those who ask tough questions. We see this in the "Macaca" Wallace-VA campaign, the Conrad Burns-MT campagin, and from the Santorum-PA campagin, just to name a few. Watch how they and their people regularly laugh and make fun of those who oppose them, without the slightest amount of respect for the viewpoints of a constituent.

This is typically bully behavior- if Minnis didn't stop her people from laughing at a constituent, she endorsed their bully-crowd actions. It's very seventh-grade, but that's what we've come to expect from today's politics. It's how they keep the division going and growing- make people feel like part of the club, the "in" crowd, and they'll follow people like Minnis, Wallace, Burns, Santorum and Bush like sheep.

Karol was not a sheep today. She was not rude, according to this account. Had she truly been rude I'm certain Minnis' Minions would not have laughed- they would have reacted with vitriol. Regardless, either action is designed to discredit and discount the target. Surely, had Karol looked back, she likely would have witnessed Ms. Minnis joining in the jolliness of her Minions as they shredded Karol and her comments among themselves.

J Jones, as someone who has encountered a powerful politician or 2 in my time (and still remember the people laughing at me as I asked the politician they were with some follow up questions because he was running in a primary and trying very hard not to answer my serious "why did you talk one way and vote another way?" question) I believe the laughter by those around Karen was quite possible. Were you there? Do you know for a fact that no person with Speaker Minnis has ever laughed when a young person spoke to her? Or is that just surmise?

And about this: I would say that Karol is lucky that the barista didn't say "Really? I want to shake her hand and say thanks for standing up for the voters."

As someone who was a product demonstrator for 10 years and has done other public contact work, I doubt anyone working a job like barista would say that. More likely "would she last a day in this job, since it requires talking to ordinary folks, courtesy to everyone, and attention to detail?". Minnis is, after all, the woman who could just never find the time to speak to the Portland City Club when the Senate President did so during the session and the 2 Majority Leaders did so after the session.

I knew a woman who was a server at a winery, and often worked political events. How the candidate treated the servers was more important to this woman than stands on issues. She said "if the candidate talked to us like potential voters, I would probably support that person. But anyone who treats servers like "the help" has lost my vote and nothing they say can change that." Given her friends, organizational memberships, and her political leanings, one would think she'd vote Republican. But she first told me about this after doing an winery event for a Democrat. "Such a nice man. He talked to the servers as if they were potential voters, not as if they were the help".

Jeff, do you consider the four County commissioner's action not "polorization"?

very brave, karol. awesome.

Karen Minnis did speak to the City Club a few years ago. One of the greatest perks of the club is the ability to ask pointed questions of our political leaders in a highly visible setting. Her speech at the club included the typical Republican budget dodge, claiming that no increase in taxes was necessary to keep schools and other essential public services afloat--the state just needed to cut the fat. I got up and asked her, "Given that the Republican party has controlled both houses of the legislature for the last dozen years, and each election year Republicans have campaigned on cutting the fat in state government, why isn't the state government now a lean and mean machine to be the envy of all public and private enterprise."

She never answered the question, muttering something about the bureaucracy being too big to get turned out. But after over a decade of control over the state budget, one would think all the fat would be gone.

She never showed up at the City Club again, leaving our only avenue for public accountability the random queries by citizens such as Karol. I applaud he fortitude.

Our elected officials only get to act like an elite when they are treated as one. Being rude is counter-productive, but Karole's approach is productive, at least in the sense of removing the insulaion barrier from Ms Minnis. The really productive result was for Karole, that's good enough in itself.

After perusing through the many posts I can't help but laugh at how liberals "think" or don't think as the case may be. Some people on here are able to construct somewhat coherent thoughts, although they are highly flawed in content, but the vast majority are people so full of hatred and anger that all they can muster up is "nazi" or "bigot" or some other equally uncreative slur. Are "progressives" not the tolerant ones they so loudly claim to be, and demand everyone else be? Or does that tolerance stop for anyone who has a different set of beliefs than their own?

As a resident of District 49 I have met Karen Minnis on numerous occasions. Whether it was a visit to my door or running into her at the supermarket, I have always found her to be a very humble and gracious person. Even without being there I can almost guarantee that no one, including Karen, laughed at Karol as she walked away. That's not characteristic of Karen, or the people she surrounds herself with. Karen Minnis is not the evil person that so many people on the Left claim she is. Karen Minnis happens to have a certain set of beliefs than those on the Left. Does that make her an evil bigot? No, it does not. Karen Minnis happens to share a set of beliefs with the majority of Oregon voters. It is time for the Left to stop preaching about tolerance and start practicing it for themselves.

Karen Minnis happens to have a certain set of beliefs than those on the Left.

Maybe so, but until recently Speaker Minnis employed people to answer the phone in her office who were of the "why are you even asking that question?" sort rather than the kind of people who work in private sector customer contact jobs. When I worked in that sort of customer contact job, I had to answer any question asked by a customer--no matter what the question was, or what I thought of the question.

That sort of "customer service" has been much more obvious in the Sen. Minority office of Ted Ferrioli than anyone in the House Majority or Speaker's office in recent years. I don't agree with Ted Ferrioli on much, but always value the conversations we have.

Perhaps "disappointed" could explain how that makes me a member of "the Left". 6 out of the last 10 years I was registered NAV, but no one gets my respect by being snippy. And does "disappointed" consider Gil J. to be a member of "the Left" because he asked Minnis a question in public?

This is not partisan, as anyone who knows me knows I have asked tough questions of Democratic candidates as well.

I don't care if Karen believes the moon is made of green cheese. Someone who says "Darned right I believe the moon is made of green cheese" is more impressive to me than someone who dodges a question and doesn't really answer.

It is time for the Left to stop preaching about tolerance and start practicing it for themselves.

I love this argument. It doesn't stop with "Be tolerant of my intolerance." I think lefties could live with bigots and homophobes because we believe you have the right to think what you want. The reality of what this says is "Be tolerant of the work I do to limit or take away an individual's or group's rights because of my beliefs."

I think everyone on the left does practice tolerance for people's individual thoughts and beliefs. It's when those people use their power to limit others' rights based on nothing but their personal belief system--that is what liberals take exception to.

The Left is trying to make this country better for everyone. Guess what, righties--if and when gay people get the right to marry, you still get to continue hating them. Nothing has changed for you.

I love this post! When you ask for something similar, I don't have nearly as good a story as another writer for our blog... We write about reproductive health issues, both domestically and globally, and while that often involves abortion, it includes so much else. One of those things is contraception, which some anti-choice activists are now mobilizing to take on in a more public way.

So what did Tyler do? She went to their conference and sat with them for 12 hours, listened to their lectures, mingled with them...All the time knowing that they were wanting to make contraception illegal. (something that at least 91% of Americans think is ridiculous.)

She didn't speak up then, but she's been writing about her experience all week, and the right-wingers are taking notice. Check it out: www.rhrealitycheck.org

tsk tsk seems that most of the people posting on this thread forgot something called the golden rule, its something taught in school. It means that you treat others as you would like to be treated. So yea be ticked that Minnis has made you GLBT friends life a living hell, you have to show her respect not for who she is or what she stands for but rather because shes a human being just like the rest of us. The same goes for all you Minnis is a born again nazi or hilter people. She isnt hitler, lets time I checked hitler killed jews, gays, and all sorts of people as did nazi's. Minnis just put forth her opinion did it hurt other people maybe but she did her job. So I think that comments like those above as well as those "f*ck republicans" or republicans are evil comments shouldnt be done anymore. When I read those comments I think on Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reily, just becuase they deliver low blows, doesnt give you the right to deliver low blows. Lets keep this blog smart and non offensive or maybe the better word is closed minded. In one of my class's a teacher I have in a AP english class is requiring us to read weekly editorals from non oregon sources that are both very liberal and very conserative in order for us to have an open mind and learn to look at both sides of the story before making an opinion.

<h2>Karol, I think I know you, did you live in New Mexico?</h2>