Iowa lawmaker presses the state to discriminate against LGBT families at campgrounds.
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on May 9th, 2010 4:37 am by HL
Iowa lawmaker presses the state to discriminate against LGBT families at campgrounds.
In April 2009, Iowa’s Supreme Court unanimously overturned a 10-year-old ban on same-sex marriage. Although the far right claimed that this decision would upend traditional marriage, a September 2009 Des Moines Register poll found 92 percent of Iowans believed marriage equality had “brought no real change to their lives.” But now, Iowa state Sen. […]
In April 2009, Iowa’s Supreme Court unanimously overturned a 10-year-old ban on same-sex marriage. Although the far right claimed that this decision would upend traditional marriage, a September 2009 Des Moines Register poll found 92 percent of Iowans believed marriage equality had “brought no real change to their lives.” But now, Iowa state Sen. Merlin Bartz (R) is trying to convince the public that LGBT families threaten the institution of…camping. Radio Iowa explains why Bartz is so upset:
Senator Merlin Bartz, a Republican from Grafton, says it appears to him that the Department of Natural Resources wants to make gay couples eligible for family camping at state parks. “They’re citing the Supreme Court case and changing, you know, ‘husband and wife’ language to ’spouse,’” Bartz says.
The rates or fees for camp sites are the same, whether you’re a family or a non-family, but the state allows families to put up more than one tent on a camp site. “They’re changing their language even though the state legislature has not had a debate on this particular issue,” Bartz says. […]
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.”
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has stated that the change isn’t in response to the state Supreme Court ruling, but to “comply with a state policy that prevents discrimination.” Radio Iowa explains, “The proposed rule will be formally presented to Bartz and the rest of the legislative panel on May10th, but the final draft won’t be up for a committee vote until later this summer.” Bartz has been a staunch opponent of marriage equality, last year calling on county recorders to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. (HT: Towleroad)
Cuccinelli Switches His Explanation For Censoring Virginia Seal Lapel Pins
Virginia’s right-wing Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) has taken heat in recent days after he censored the state seal on lapel pins he handed out to his staff. Virginia’s Great Seal, which has been in use since 1776, shows the Roman goddess Virtus standing over the defeated Tyranny. The official seal shows Virtus with […]
Virginia’s right-wing Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) has taken heat in recent days after he censored the state seal on lapel pins he handed out to his staff. Virginia’s Great Seal, which has been in use since 1776, shows the Roman goddess Virtus standing over the defeated Tyranny. The official seal shows Virtus with her left breast exposed, but Cuccinelli’s version has her chest covered.
When he handed out the pins, he “joked that it converts a risqué image into a PG one,” but after being widely ridiculed for the new seal, Cuccinelli abandoned the pins and denied that he was trying to censor the seal. He blamed the media for creating a “distraction,” claiming the pins were based on “antique” versions of the seal and that he just wanted to give his employees something “unique.”
But in an interview on WAMU yesterday, Cuccinelli offered a completely new explanation, suggesting that it would be illegal for him to use the official seal on the pins:
CUCCINELLI: We just had art for an old seal and we were making a lapel pin and the one thing I know about seal law, and this is the limit of my seal law knowledge, is that there are rules surrounding using the seal. So we didn’t. We made our own pin. If we made a seal — the House of Delegates members, that’s their pin, it’s been used, it’s on all of my letter head and everywhere else.
HOST: Stationary. The flag. It’s on the flag.
CUCCINELLI: Absolutely. It sits right next to me at my desk. So I don’t have any problem with the seal. it is just something we were doing artistically and historically.
Listen here:
Cuccinelli did not mention “seal law” anywhere in the statement he put out to explain the pins, and has not suggested it as the reason behind the change thus far. According to the website of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who is “charged by law with being the keeper of the seal,” the use of the seal is prohibited for “nongovernmental purposes“:
Section 1-505 of the Code of Virginia provides that the seals of the Commonwealth are deemed the property of the Commonwealth; and no persons shall exhibit, display, or in any manner utilize the seals or any facsimile or representation of the seals of the Commonwealth for nongovernmental purposes unless such use is specifically authorized.
Although Cuccinelli paid for the pin with money from his political action committee, he handed them out to his gubernatorial staff members — who are paid by Virginia taxpayers. A call placed by ThinkProgress to Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office for clarification has not yet been returned.
