Sen. Branden Petersen, a Republican state senator in Minnesota, is likely to co-sponsor a marriage equality bill that will be introduced any day now in the state. 

This is especially a big deal because Petersen is one of the majority of Republican legislators who put a constitutional amendment on Minnesota’s November ballot that would have banned marriage equality. As you know, that bill failed and made history. 

Petersen says he would want the marriage bill to include provisions for religious freedom and a measure giving children of same-sex married couples the same rights as children of opposite-sex married couples. 

Having a Republican co-author would be an enormous political coup for same-sex marriage advocates as they prepare to unveil their proposal in the days ahead. Petersen would become the first Republican legislator to publicly support same-sex marriage, highlighting the rapidly changing dynamics of the issue at the Capitol.

“At this point, I am concerned about doing the right thing,” said Petersen, an Andover resident who is married and has two young children. “I have a certain amount of peace about that, and I will let the chips fall where they may.”

This is progress, friends. We are going somewhere.