Anti-gay Iowa senator irate over proposed camping rules update
Anti-gay Iowa senator irate over proposed camping rules update
A vocal anti-gay marriage senator in Iowa is irate over a proposed change to the state’s camping rules. The proposed change would make same-sex couples eligible for the family camping in state parks.
“They’re citing the Supreme Court case and changing, you know, ‘husband and wife’ language to ’spouse,’ ” Sen. Merlin Bartz, a Republican, told Radio Iowa. “They’re changing their language even though the state legislature has not had a debate on this particular issue.”
Bartz said he wants to keep Iowa’s state agencies from extending spousal rights to same-sex couples. In state parks, the rates for camping don’t change for families and non-familes, but families are allowed to pitch more than one tent on a camp site.
“A lot of the advocates of gay marriage in Iowa have said, ‘It doesn’t affect anything. Nothing has changed,’ ” Bartz said. “The reality of it is that everything is changing.”
But Bartz admits he knows the Department of Natural Resources, which oversees state parks, could be sued if it does not change its language to be inclusive of the state-recognized married gay couples in Iowa.
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