WATCH: Minnesota Governor on How His State Made History

Gov. Mark Dayton appeared on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell to reflect on how Minnesota became the 12th state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Sunnivie Brydum

Sunnivie is the managing editor of The Advocate, and an award-winning journalist whose passion is covering the politics of equality and elevating the unheard stories of our community. Originally from Colorado, she and her spouse now live in Los Angeles, along with their three fur-children: dogs Luna and Cassie Doodle, and "Meow Button" Tilly.

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Sunnivie Brydum

May 15 2013 3:09 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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Just hours after he signed a bill making his state the 12th (along with Washington, D.C.) to embrace marriage equality, Minnesota governor Mark Dayton commended the people of Minnesota for leading the way in the increasingly rapid march toward LGBT equality.

In an interview with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, the Democratic governor marveled at the incredible trajectory toward equality Minnesotans found themselves on. Less than a year after voters considered -- and defeated -- an amendment to the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, both chambers of the state legislature approved marriage equality with bipartisan votes. Same-sex couples in Minnesota can begin marrying August 1.

"I think history was coming the way of the people of Minnesota, who pride ourselves on being on of the forefront of progressive social change," Governor Dayton told O'Donnell on Tuesday's episode of The Last Word.

Even so, Dayton acknowledged that for "those of us in the older generation," arriving at a pro-equality position was more difficult than for younger people, who overwhelmingly support the freedom to marry.

"Time is on the side of those who want every American to have the same equal protections under the law that the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees," said the governor.