Don't Go Using That S-Word Here!

Via Joe.My.God, we find a Republican senator in Iowa who only upholds family values so long as the families look like his family.  No shock there, I guess.

Iowa, you'll remember, is one of the places in America, where everyone has equality, where the state has actually allowed (some of) its citizens (some) equality, in that gay folk can marry there.

This has Senator Bartz all bent, and apparently no related issue is too small for him to get bent over.

The current point he's all warped on is a change in the language by the Department of Natural Resources in the rules for camping at the state parks.

Apparently in Iowa they charge for the campsite.  Doesn't matter how many people are sleeping on or using the campsite.  Only one tent per campsite is allowed.  So far so good.  An exception is granted, however, for families that are camping, for obvious reasons -- mom, dad, three or four kids, you might well need a couple of tents, and mom and dad don't want to have to put the kids on a separate site that might well be some distance away, depending on the campground.

Anyway, the previous rule said "husband and wife"; the new rule will say "spouse"; this, according to Senator Bartz, cannot pass unchallenged.

Bartz says he wants to be “vigilant” and keep state agencies from writing rules that extend new benefits to gay couples. “A lot of the advocates of gay marriage in Iowa have said, ‘It doesn’t affect anything. Nothing has changed,’” Bartz says. “The reality of it is that everything is changing.”

Let's not have parents camping safely with their kids -- I mean, unless they're straight white Christian parents.  That's the kind of family values Senator Bartz can get behind.