Good As You: Iowa Roundup
10/12/2012
Video: Vander Plaats denies our legislative success; apparently unfamiliar with NY, MD, WA, NH…
Listen to this ridiculous accusation that Bob Vander Plaats os now making in order to justify his freedom-threatening attempts to politicize the Iowa courts. Clip is cued up correctly: So let me first remind you that Bob's current "NO Wiggins"...
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09/25/2012
Video: Santorum and friends undermine sanctity of fair, independent, non-politicized judiciary
Sam Clovis, Rick Santorum, and Tamara Scott continue to tell Iowa that out-of-state money and special interest actors should politicize their court system by voting off judges on the basis of one, single, solitary opinion with which certain faith-motivated fans...
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09/19/2012
Iowa's 'No Wiggins' team puts blatant deception right on the side of its bus
While questioning potential state Supreme Court justice Angela Onwuachi-Willig back in January of 2011, the chair of the Judicial Nominating Commission, Justice David Wiggins, cracked an obvious joke about Willig's potential (but ultimately unsuccessful) path towards joining the court. The...
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07/05/2012
Corn grows in Iowa; discrimination, not so much
Here's an interesting Associated Press report about socially conservative Iowans narrowing chance to cast a mean-spirited vote against their LGB neighbors (and pro-equality allies). Worth a look: Conservative lawmakers are watching public opinion move away from them on the gay...
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06/15/2012
Video: Just another heartland marriage ceremony (*religion always optional)
It's very difficult to hear the audio. That's okay, since it's more the visual that I want you to take in here. It's just an army man, Paul, and his love, Danny, in a non-church setting, entering into a *civil*...
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03/21/2012
Video: The 'sanctity' of majority tyranny
Unanimous high court opinions don't matter. Tax-paying gay couples who are already marrying without incident don't matter. The crucial principle of protecting minorities from the whims of a (faith-motivated) majority don't matter. In Iowa conservative circles circa 2012, it's only...
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02/16/2012
Self-appointed morality correctors to save IA from its civil self
Iowa's Family Leader organization, on apparent hiatus from pro-"ex-gay" programs that compare same-sex marriages to cigarette smoking or equating bullying conferences with playing dodge ball in the street, has announced plans to join up with both the National Organization For...
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02/15/2012
Dangerous game: Vander Plaats says protecting LGBT kids from bullying is like playing in street
Self-appointed "values" guy Bob Vander Plaats used Valentine's Day to continue his war against a local anti-bullying conference. Did so by comparing this cause to a game of street dodge ball, natch: "Our goal at The FAMiLY LEADER is to...
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02/07/2012
The Family Neglecter: TFL goes after Gov, LGBTQ youth, basic safety
The 7th Annual Governor’s Conference on LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning) Youth is designed to help the state's young people know a safer, healthier, less traumatic journey. Considering the demonstrable roadblocks, harms, and outside condemnations that young LGBTQ are...
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12/22/2011
Family Leader clarifies recent, terrible choices
The only two people who ever speak for the Family Leader organization, Bob Vander Plaats and Chuck Hurley, personally endorsed consistent low-poller Rick Santorum. Plus the entire board has also "indicated support" for Santorum. But apparently that doesn't mean the...
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12/20/2011
Video: The Family Leader makes bold choice; bold, since most other orgs want to win
The Family Leader used to run a heinous, rabidly anti-gay program that likened same-sex marriage to secondhand smoking (which is still hosted on this Family Leader site). But today, the organization and its leader, Bob Vander Plaats, might have done...
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11/09/2011
On Iowa's SD 18 (or how we're just plain better than NOM)
It wasn't about marriage, largely. Liz Mathis' victory over Republican Cindy Golding in Iowa's 18th Senate District was about jobs, education, local business, property taxes, and a whole host of other true concerns. But by and large, the state's marriage...
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11/08/2011
Golding/Mathis race gets even more homo-hostile
A truly nasty last ditch effort in the Iowa state senate race that the National Organization For Marriage has been trying to make all about same-sex marriage for over a month now. With election day upon us, a group calling...
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11/07/2011
Does Cindy Golding wish NOM would just go away?
Cindy Golding has two powerful out-of-state groups involved in her one, hyperlocal state senate race solely because -- SOLELY.BECAUSE! -- of marriage equality and the supposed "right" of Iowans to vote on the legal same-sex marriages in their state. I...
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PPP: NOM's out-of-state cash is out of touch with Iowa's 18th District
The National Organization For Marriage has thrown a ton of cash at Iowa's 18th District, in hopes of swaying the race in favor of Republican Cindy Golding. Extremist group Family Research Council just gave a high profile endorsement to Golding....
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11/02/2011
Will (DC and NJ-based) NOM's seemingly limitless, highly suspect funds buy Iowa's special election?
NOM has thrown nearly $10k more into Iowa's special state Senate race, putting their running total up to $37,082.85: [SOURCE: Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure] NOM is backing Republican Cindy Golding over Democrat Liz Mathis because the GOP candidate has...
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10/27/2011
NOM Exposed: In special Senate race, NOM's Iowa expenditures up to $27,325.22
Even though the GOP candidate doesn't seem to be prioritizing repeal of the state's marriage equality law, NOM is still ramping up it's expenditures to elect Republican Cindy Golding to a state Senate seat (District 18). We've already shown you...
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Video: Even NOM-backed Cindy Golding seems to know NOM's priorities are misplaced
The National Organization For Marriage has joined up with the anti-LGBT Family Leader to launch an independent expenditure campaign in support of Iowa state senate candidate Cindy Golding. But judging by this new ad from Golding, the GOP candidate doesn't...
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Video: Come for the pumpkin picking, stay for the gay neighbor banning
Carroll's Pumpkin Farm in Grinnell, Iowa, offers visitors picking pumpkin picking, goat feeding, cow milking, a corn barn, a straw barn, a cow train, a corn maze, a tricycle race track, and a Big Orange Jumping Pillow. But if Bob...
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10/20/2011
NOM: Iowa's future dependent on changing its benign, peaceful present
To no one's surprise, the National organization For Marriage has announced support for the anti-marriage candidate in Iowa's special race to fill a vacant seat (18th District) in the Iowa state Senate. Here's the mailer, produced alongside the Family Leader:...
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07/19/2011
Video: Slurred words, Vander Plaats: 'That's pretty good, oh shoot'
Regular G-A-Y readers certainly know the name Bob Vander Plaats: Iowa conservative kingmaker, onetime gubernatorial candidate, supporter of state marriage ban, head of the campaign to remove judges for no reason greater than their unanimous decision supporting civil equality, leader...
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06/29/2011
Bob Vander Plaats greets folks at front door; we look at tools still tucked away in the shed
In obvious reaction to the "Second Hand Effects of Homosexuality" links that we first uncovered in January and that others like Think Progress' Igor Volsky continued to bring up throughout the winter and spring, Bob Vander Plaats and his Iowa...
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05/19/2011
Sacred [cash] cows: The Family Leader seeks church vote, church lucre
You know The Family Leader, that anti-LGBT Iowa group that's extreme enough to support seminars that liken gay people to cigarette smoking yet establishment enough to still host a lecture series featuring all of the GOP leading light candidates? Well...
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05/04/2011
Iowa Family Leader willfully fans flames, more fully connects self to 'gay=smoking' program
In a truly odd flick of the lighter, the folks at Bob Vander Plaats' Family Leader group have now relit this once-dead link... http://web.me.com/thefamilyleader/The_Second-Hand_Effects_of_Same-Sex_Marriage/ ...so that their butts are even more fully, undeniably connected to the heinous program that directly...
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04/14/2011
G-A-Y Exclusive: Iowa's 'Second-Hand Effects' smoke goes even further; connected to national conservatives
So you know that "Second Hand Effects of Same-Sex Marriage" seminar program that we were the first to uncover then conclusively link to the conservative coalition that operates under the Iowa Family Leader/Iowa Family Policy Center/LUV Iowa umbrella? The truly...
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04/01/2011
Video: April's 'In The Life' stacks Iowa family values against 'Iowa family values'
*** *SEE ALSO: Our obsessively detailed Iowa For Freedom Archive
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03/25/2011
Audio: Bob Vander Plaats has no chance of losing, says Bob Vander Plaats
It doesn't matter how much you prove your case's legal merit or how strongly you move the opinion polls toward the side of equality, Iowa equality activists. For unless you subscribe to the Church of Bob Vander Plaats, you'll always...
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03/24/2011
'Black-robed masters': A dangerous label pushed by those warring against accountability
Judges shunned for both accurately doing their job and properly donning their required wardrobe: Just another day in Michelle Bachmann's America: DES MOINES – Ripping judges as “black-robed masters,” Michele Bachmann praised conservative Iowans on Wednesday for sacking three members...
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03/17/2011
Video: Gingrich: 'Both [secular atheists & radical Islamists] would like to eliminate our civilization'
Newt Gingrich: Hoping to repaint the White House one broad stroke at a time.
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03/16/2011
Video: King didn't dream in rainbow colors? Really? REALLY?!
Another clip from yesterday's "LUV Iowa" marriage rally: Well with all due respect, reverend: If your own definitions of "traditional marriage" are to be believed, then Coretta Scott King presumably knew her husband's heart better than anybody else: CORETTA QUOTES...
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03/15/2011
Video: When we invited Iowans to afternoon wedding bash, this wasn't 'bash' we had in mind
The event: A "Let Us Vote" rally, hosted this afternoon by that anti-gay Iowa Family Leader/ Iowa Family Policy Council/LUV Iowa/ Needs To Pick A Name and Stick With It coalition. The cause: Putting minority rights before majority plebiscite. The...
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03/14/2011
Video: Bob Vander Plaats' former adviser: 'I wish he'd just step back a little and take a look at what he's doing'
*** *Reminder: This same Iowa Family Leader/ Iowa Family Policy Council/LUV Iowa coalition has connections to one of the most heinous anti-gay efforts we've ever seen: A "second hand effects of homosexuality" program, which attempted to paint homosexuality as public...
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03/10/2011
Judge Moore en route to Iowa; 'Judge more' the likely rally cry
Judge Roy Moore is known for declaring, in a state high court opinion, his personal belief that homosexuality is "abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature and a violation of the laws of nature and of nature's God" and an...
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03/01/2011
Because gay Iowans' benign marriages aren't going to sensationalize themselves
Next Tuesday in Des Moines, anti-equality Iowans will spend a lunch break doing this: [The Family Leader] Gee, can't wait to see what new and exciting things they'll say about us this time. *** *Oh, and btw: If The Family...
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Some spend 3/21 celebrating 1st day of Spring, others pray Lord will 'confuse rhetoric of those who promote destructive lifestyles'
Because we know you've been waiting for it, here's the March 2011 prayer plan for Iowa's leading anti-equality group: [The Family Leader] World hunger, poverty, homeless, disease, war, and famine: Better luck in April!
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02/28/2011
Video: Bob Vander Plaats spends another countless hour talking about gay people
Iowa's Bob Vander Plaats warns twos and twos of supporters about those bisexuals who innately want to marry multiple partners and those fathers who want to marry their children: The Gay Marriage Battle Continues [KIMT] Ya know, there's been a...
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02/23/2011
IA Republicans introduce 'The Courts Are But A Suggestion Act of 2011'
Iowa conservatives Republicans are literally willing to uproot the separation of powers and responsible rule of law in order to hurt gay families. This from Jason Clayworth: County recorders would be prohibited from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples and...
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02/17/2011
Video: Zach Wahls' two lesbian mothers lead him to mother of all lesbians
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02/15/2011
Family Leader backs away from 'Second-Hand' program; but why did it happen on the firsthand?
The Iowa Family leader is now publicly distancing itself from the "gays are a public health hazard like smoking so they should 'change' their lifestyles" programs that its host organization, the Iowa Family Policy Center, proudly hosted. This from Iowa...
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If a Congressman 'bulldozes away' 'screaming, profane gays' and no one's there to film it...
...does it still make a sound? We ask, because there's no record of the following recount actually happening. Not from Iowa's mainstream press. Not from bloggers. Not from YouTubers who filmed the events. Not even, up to this point, from...
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02/09/2011
Iowa marriage ban sponsor: 'That whole lifestyle has brought a lot of problems to society'
Iowa State Rep. Dwayne Alons (R), a co-sponsor of Iowa’s anti-gay marriage bill: Sponsor Of Iowa’s Anti-Gay Marriage Bill Agrees That Gays Are Public Health Risk [Think Progress] ** *EARLIER: What prompted Igor Volsky to ask this question.
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02/04/2011
More 'Second-Hand' information: Family Leader proudly e-blasting its smoking liability
Building on our video connecting Iowa's conservative Family Leader group to something waaaaaaay out there called "The Second-Hand Effects of Smoking": Our pal Igor Volsky at Think Progress has found that one need not even dig as much as we...
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02/03/2011
Video: 'The Second-Hand Effects of [Aligning Candidacy with The Family Leader]
*Try the url upconvert for yourself: http://web.me.com/thefamilyleader/ *The Family Leader's site: http://web.me.com/thefamilyleader/Capturing_the_Momentum/ *Download the "Second Hand Effects" packet
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02/01/2011
Two Iowa lawmakers: We [sit] in [non-defense] of this bill
If we had to pick the most telling moment from today's Iowa House debate on marriage (in)equality, it would have to be the moment when Rep. Nathan Willems (D-29) asked two of his most outspokenly gay-banny colleagues... ...Reps. Pearson (R-42)...
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Archived Audio: Iowa Reps take strong stand against discrimination #HJR6 #IAlegis
Rep. Bruce Hunter (D) Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D) Rep. Mary Mascher (D) Rep. Nathan Willems (D) Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad (D) Rep. Vicki Lensing (D) Rep. Mary Wolfe (D) Rep. Cindy Winckler (D) Rep. Todd E. Taylor (D) Rep. Charles Isenhart...
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Live at 10MT/11CT/12ET: Iowa House debates benign, not-hurting-anyone, faux controversy
Marriage debate. Listen in: *** **Archived audio here: Iowa Reps take strong stand against discrimination #HJR6 #IAlegis [G-A-Y]
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01/28/2011
Video: We fight for civil license, obtained at secular govt. buildings. Now watch Iowa Family Leader aggressively ignore that fact:
In the nascent days of the modern *CIVIL* marriage equality fight, the opposition movement would at least pretend the resistance was based in something other than personal faith. But in Iowa in 2011, the pretense has been completely dropped. The...
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01/27/2011
Iowa Senate Dems stop wanton civil rollback (for now)
Good news out of Iowa: A motion by state Sen. Kent Sorenson (R-Indianola) to suspend the Senate’s rules to allow a vote on a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was defeated early Thursday morning on a party-line vote. Sorenson asked...
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01/25/2011
Iowa marriage ban moves forward (but we refuse to use the word 'advances')
By a 13-8 vote, twelve Iowa House Republicans and one Democrat... Rep. Kurt Swaim, D-Bloomfield ...voted to move forward with an amendment that would not only roll back the same-sex marriage right that earned the unanimous support of the state...
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01/23/2011
Bob Vander Plaats: 'Okay, so I deny your worth as a fair, free, healthy citizen. Chocolate chip?'
If one goes to one's address bar and enters the url "http://web.me.com/thefamilyleader/," the text string will automatically upconvert to the (now-dead) url: "http://web.me.com/thefamilyleader/The_Second-Hand_Effects_of_Same-Sex_Marriage/Home.html". Go ahead. Try it. Unless they've scrubbed the evidence by the time you're reading this (which would...
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